<strong>By: Christiaan Steyn, MiWay Head of Business Insurance</strong>

<em>It would be safe to say that every single business has been affected by the outbreak of Covid-19. Not only are there new regulations governing the way businesses operate, but regulations also keep changing. Businesses have had to adapt and demand flexibility and concessions from their insurers and other business partners.</em>

If Covid-19 has taught us anything, it is that you can never be too prepared when it comes to adapting to and taking advantage of change. Agile businesses that have been able to react swiftly and reinvent themselves have been able to move from ‘tried and trusted’ models to new ones that allow their business to thrive. Across all sectors, companies have had to think differently about every aspect of the way they run a business – anything from adjusting their office seating arrangements and managing production disruptions to the changing customer habits and consumption.

In the process, many are discovering that some of the new ways they have been forced to adopt may become permanent.

All these changes have affected, and will continue to affect, how businesses operate. Some businesses have had to adjust their operations in order to manage more deliveries (restaurants, e-commerce, retail stores), but in many circumstances, business vehicles have stood idle due to supply chain disruptions impacted by lockdown regulations. Many business vehicles are now doing substantially less mileage than usual.

With less vehicles on the road, the insurance industry has also had to adapt to these changes by adjusting premiums to reflect the changed risk. It is important for insurers to help business clients build financial resilience in the current economic climate without compromising risk mitigation. More and more insurers are going out of their way to address the implications of low mileage for personal insurance premiums but very few have considered this provision for business insurance clients. Which is why MiWay Business Insurance offers varying levels of discounts based on each vehicle’s average monthly mileage. Business vehicles that drive less than 1000km a month could qualify for a discount of up to 30%. It is an opportunity for an insurer to tailor an existing product to provide peace of mind and lower premiums – more importantly, though, it demonstrates the kind of cooperation we need to shock-proof our business ecosystems.

As South Africa moves towards lower levels of lockdown, we will continue to learn lessons and adapt. Businesses must regroup and recover at each stage of the unexpected. The keys to survival will be how well you have planned for change, and how responsive your ecosystem of business partners and suppliers is to a rapidly changing business environment.