UK ill-prepared for the big freeze

Small firms particularly disrupted

The big freeze gripping the UK has exposed how many firms, particularly small organisations, are ill-equipped to deal with the staff absences such disruption causes.

According to the Federation of Small Businesses, 10% of the 30 million workforce was unable to work on Tuesday, costing £600m. Figures from the Business Continuity Institute estimate that only a third of UK firms have plans in place to cope with staff absences, so the cost to the UK economy looks certain to carry on rising throughout the bad weather.

According to Rob Lovell, CEO of ThinkGrid, the cold snap illustrates how cloud computing enables people to easily work away from the office. “The cloud computing model enables people to work from anywhere, and therefore organisations can ensure that workers are able to continue to keep working as normal even though they can't get into the office, he said.

Andrew Millard, marketing manager for Citrix Online backed this idea: “With the availability of simple, affordable and easy to use SaaS-based remote access and collaboration technologies that can be activated at the touch of a button, any business can ensure employees can easily and securely access their office PC or Mac from any location, so they can work as productively as if they were in the office.”

“Being prepared for the unexpected is essential to maintaining business continuity and many employers have been caught out by not having sufficient plans in place. Small businesses in particular will be suffering at this time.”

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