With the deadline for a BREXIT deal looming many companies have not been considering the impact a “no-deal” or a deal that changes the terms of trading.

Some companies even think that there is likely to be no impact at all as they do not export or import finished goods or materials. Be under no allusion, everybody will be impacted directly or indirectly.

Directly many SMEs fear that they may lose competitiveness both from tariffs being applied to their exports and tariffs being applied to imports of raw materials. But there are other factors, direct and indirect, to consider in a world of “Lean Thinking”. I would ask you to consider the following:

Supply Chain

• Customs processes may well be more complicated and impact the time it takes either to import materials or to export finished goods. It is imperative to identify impact is this going to have on each element of your Value Chain both in terms of process, cost and competitiveness.

• Changes to the supply chain may impact on your cash flow. You might be required to change your minimum stock levels, change your payment terms, provide for a much larger requirement for Working Capital etc. It would be prudent to identify the likely impact, so you are able to identify any funding required.

• Should you be looking for alternative suppliers as maybe UK suppliers might become a more competitive solution to importing materials.

Sales & Marketing

• It would be prudent to consider the impact will have on your market place and consider if it is time to look at new markets for your products. It will have an impact on your competitors based in Europe. Is this an opportunity to “steal” some of the market share from them?

• It may be a good opportunity to review markets outside the EU. Certain markets in Africa and the Middle East have been ignored by many SMEs but this could be a good time to review which countries in these markets have an appetite for your goods and services.

Employment

• Many companies are already finding there are skills shortages as sterling loses value against other currencies and working in UK becomes less attractive. This could push up wages or cause resourcing problems leading to delivery deadlines becoming stretched.

• For those already employing people from EU countries it is worth considering that there is likely to be a requirement to act as a Sponsor and this will involve further workload on your HR department or administrators. It would be prudent to discover at the earliest opportunity what these processes might be and prepare to have the HR or administrative resource to deal with it.

Antiva can help your business identify every element of your Value Chain that may be impacted and assist in devising appropriate strategies and putting together a project plan to deal with them.

With changes possibly becoming imminent on 29 March 2019, or it might be delayed until 31 December 2020, depending on whether the proposed Withdrawal & Transition Agreements are finalised later this year, identifying elements now will enable you to react quickly when the time arrives and will provide flexibility when you write your Plan.

Be prepared! Call Andrew Jones, Principal Consultant, Antiva on 07799 544 973 or email are.jones@antiva.com.