The current power crisis cannot just be wished away; it might be here to stay longer than some would imagine and it would help small businesses to stop complaining about loss of sales and take decisive action. This is the opinion of Volker von Viddern, managing director of Marsh Risk Consulting.
For businesses and household alike, load shedding as the planned blackouts are called by Eskom have reluctantly been accepted as part of life. For businesses, SMEs in particular, decisive action could be the difference between staying in business and collapsing. And they don’t have a choice but find ways to manage business interruptions.
Businesses are increasingly looking to solutions on managing the aftermath of power outages longer than 8 hours, including water shortages, IT blackouts and Telecommunications blocks.
In Viddern’s view, early preparation for renewal power sources is as relevant to small businesses as it is to their large counterparts.
“While having a clear business interruption risk strategy is more vital than ever, and while big industry have considered the issues and impact at length, there is also room for small and medium enterprise to find their own innovative solutions to potentially cover off business interruption risks, the rising cost of electricity and the need to reduce carbon emissions,” says Von Viddern.
“Eskom has called on large industry to reduce their power usage, but this does not mean that the next tier of business cannot find alternative, viable solutions to play a significant part in this.”