Is your business ready for the festive rush? Be prepared and stop the stress this Christmas

Christmas seems to start earlier every year. No sooner is the summer over than town-centre decorations start to appear and festive tunes fill our supermarkets.

But there’s another place those Christmas preparations need to start in September – your business.

The Christmas period should be a great sales opportunity, not a source of worry. But with our research showing that two-thirds (65%) of businesses feel the heat when their internet goes down, it really pays to be prepared.

Here’s a simple checklist to help you get ahead.

1. Plan your promotions and stock

Take a look at what sold well last year to help you plan your key offers. It’s also a good idea to speak to your suppliers now to secure your stock and avoid any last-minute issues.

2. Organise your people and places

Map out your staff rotas for the busy period to make sure you have enough cover. If you have a physical location, think about things like decorations or changes to your opening hours – and make sure to let your customers know well in advance.

3. Secure your important tech

The festive rush will only go without a hitch if your technology remains rock solid and reliable. Our research shows that for 92% of businesses, an internet outage would have a direct impact on revenue. For many, that means struggling to take card payments (a challenge for 39%) or losing access to essential cloud services (a problem for 54%).

The resilience gap

A huge 72% of business leaders agree that a backup connection is critical. But there’s a big gap between knowing and doing. Our report found that nearly a quarter of businesses (23%) have no backup plan in place at all.

This forces businesses into less-than-ideal workarounds during an outage. Many resort to asking staff to use their personal mobile data (which 46% of businesses do) or even turning away card-paying customers (something that 20% would consider). Imagine that chaos on your busiest day of the year.

Uninterrupted trading with Business Pro

Instead of relying on temporary hotspots and personal data, our Business Pro package offers complete peace of mind with an automatic 4G backup.

If your primary broadband connection ever has an issue, our 4G backup kicks in automatically. It keeps your business online, so you and your customers won’t notice a thing – and it’s available with both our full fibre and SoGEA business broadband connections.

Automatic 4G backup means your card machine keeps working, your online orders keep coming, and your revenue is protected. It’s the reassurance you need to focus on giving your customers exactly what they need this Christmas.

To find out more about the Business Pro package and discuss your upgrade options, give our team a call today.