A big week for business to round off the summer

After a summer of political spats and finger pointing, last week saw some real news for the UK’s small businesses.

It started with World Entrepreneurs’ Day on Tuesday, a time to celebrate the business builders of the economy. But also a time to consider the lost hours they suffer due to burdensome admin – which sadly, only looks set to increase for British businesses as they grapple with the implications of Brexit – no deal or otherwise. Just to remind you of the significance of the problem, globally, small and medium sized businesses are losing ￡13,780 per second as a result of unproductive, admin-heavy tasks. Right now, that equates to over ￡285,000,000,000 wasted in lost productivity just this year alone. This economic burden needs to be front of mind for politicians and businesses every day and right now in particular.

Tuesday also saw the UK Government announce its new Export Strategy where it signalled its aim of raising the percentage of export GDP from 30% to 35%. I welcome the drive to create an Export-led recovery and increase exports as intensifying overseas trade is vital to a strong and prosperous economy. Many of our customers told us they seized the opportunity of the devalued sterling to fill their orderbooks and there are many more who would like the support and education to do the same.  But I would also like to see the Government encourage UK PLC to make stronger use of the UK supply chain, where choice is available. This would provide a further boost to growth and provide contingency for different Brexit scenarios.

Then finally on Thursday, we began to see a little more clarity on Brexit as the government released the first 25 technical papers on a ‘no-deal Brexit’ scenario. We hope this is only the starting point for a more forthcoming flow of information from Government. What is a missing chasm still though, is a positive Vision for Britain.

When you consider all of this in the round, it has been a week that highlights the huge opportunities that lie ahead for small businesses, but also the considerable challenges. At Sage, we have been calling for clarity for our customers and a more confident narrative, so that they can seize the potential upside of the new business landscape. Finally, we are seeing some more detail on what a no-deal scenario looks like, and we will be helping our customers understand the implications for their businesses.

But we must not forget that change so often buries businesses in a landslide of bureaucracy, and if we want them to thrive and, for example, grow through exporting, we have to release the handbrake on their productivity. We know that lost productivity disproportionately impacts our small and medium business. As such, I want to see a greater focus on helping these small and medium businesses because they are the real heroes of the economy, creating over two thirds of all jobs.      

Most importantly, we must not get completely distracted by Brexit, a fear I have expressed to Government. Because what we need to do is drive a smart, open, digital Britain to really start attacking this productivity issue head on.

There is no single approach to smoothing the path of the next 6 months, but I believe these steps will help to support businesses to succeed, whatever flavour of Brexit we have.