In today’s turbulent economy, preparation is key. Your business constantly needs to reassess and adapt its financial strategy, which often means conserving cash or cutting costs. After all, cash is king. And in order to help your business endure COVID-19’s financial hardships, 1Path presented a webinar about cash positioning, taxes, and emergency preparedness. We opened this webinar with a simple question: “What are the current stressors in your business?” Overwhelmingly, attendees answered, “Revenue Generation,” followed by “Employee Productivity and Morale.” Solving these issues—and preparing for them in the future—became a main theme of our discussion.
Proactivity and Taxes
Michael Booher, CFO of Southern HVAC, started the conversation by explaining the importance of being proactive. “No one would have been able to foresee the magnitude of this,” he said. “But (our company) knew we had the resilience of the cloud, and that really enabled our agility. (And we had) the culture to adapt as well. No one really has the luxury of remaining static with how they operated three, four weeks ago. We’ve had to adapt, and technology is the enabler.”
The discussion then shifted to Tim Howe, CPA & Partner at Smith & Howard. Howe discussed the different ways in which COVID-19 has affected various industries. “With some industries, especially hospitality, it’s like someone shot off a valve. It’s going to be something that’s going to (affect them) further than the next 2 months, and we’re looking at 8-10 months to help plan for our clients.” Howe also explained the importance of understanding tax laws before outlining how they differ on a state-by-state basis.
Data Analytics and Communication
Toward the end of the webinar, we asked attendees to grade themselves on how well their organizations utilized data analytics tools. Most attendees gave themselves a B or a C, with only one attendee giving themselves an A.
Chris Risher, Senior Program Manager at 1Path, used this information to argue that data analytics are essential to a company’s financial health. He then explained how 1Path is utilizing its own solution to aid clients. “We really strive to make it our mission to bring enterprise grade analytics down to the SMB market,” he said. “Thinking about the difficult times we’re having right now with the economy, we wanted to provide a quick way for stakeholders to get a pulse on the present and immediate future from a cash perspective.”
“We’ve improved the information we’re assessing on a daily basis,” added Booher. “You (have to be) watching your dashboards more than ever. We’re learning to focus on the key drivers that will help us make better decisions… In this environment, it’s important for us to be on top of where consumer demand is heading… And with respect to revenue, we can’t create demand. But we can make sure that we’re on top of the consumers that we are regularly communicating with—we’re returning their calls, taking their calls. We’re not missing the contact.”
In order to stay afloat in a shifting economic environment, cash is king. And understanding and adapting your financial strategy could make all the difference in whether your company survives this crisis. If you’d like to watch our webinar in full, click the link above.
