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April 8, 2020

Adjusting to life with COVID19 – and beyond

By: Nthabiseng Moloi, Head of Marketing and Brand at MiWay Insurance

Strategies for coping with the lockdown and what comes after.

MiWay believes that while the true impact of COVID-19 will only become apparent later, individuals and businesses need to come to terms with new ways of living and doing business, at least for a while.One thing is clear: this is not a time to make hasty decisions. We still have much to learn about the virus itself and the way markets will react in the coming months is hard to predict – except that they will recover, and life will go on. In the meantime, the best advice would be to proceed cautiously, rather than making sweeping decisions. Embrace new ways of living and working. Even once the lockdown has ended, social distancing and remote working will probably remain the order of the day for the foreseeable future. Business-owners should make notes about what worked and what didn’t work during the lockdown and take steps to improve their businesses’ capability to work remotely. On a social and familial level, too, interaction will become largely virtual. In both the business and personal contexts, practice makes perfect and much can be achieved as one becomes more proficient at using technology.Look for new ways to reduce your budget. A sure way to alleviate stress is to lower your monthly overheads. You will find that you are already enjoying savings on petrol, entertainment, restaurants and those post-workout cappuccinos – make a note of just how much you are saving, and, after lockdown, you will have adjusted to minimising the luxuries and maximising your savings. Because you are driving less, and your car is parked safely at home, your risk profile has changed, and your premium could be reduced.The same thinking could also apply to the price you pay for security if you subscribe to one of the services. The fact that the home premises now have you there most of the time could also make the case for a reduced premium on household contents.Keep to your long-term strategy. In truth, all you have lost is time – markets inevitably recover, and one must just wait the downside out. Businesses should take the same long-term view: there will be some impact from reduced consumer demand but remember that markets swing up and down in the short-term. Trust your own judgement about your market sector and plan accordingly.Get organised. Now’s the perfect time to do all the personal admin tasks you’ve been putting off. Sort out your filing, organise your tax, and update your insurance. Not only is it satisfying but you’ll come out of lockdown organised and ready to go.Start planning for the post-COVID-19 world. Over the coming weeks and months, it would make sense to begin thinking about what (if any) fundamental changes COVID-19 will make to the way we live and do business.Individuals might very well emerge from this experience with clearer ideas about where and how they want to live.Overall, businesses should make sure that they have a comprehensive business continuity plan with a rigorous risk analysis and set of mitigation strategies. One of the best ways to get something positive out of this crisis is to use it as a learning experience – businesses should nominate one person to collate all the learnings that have been gained and incorporate them into the broad business continuity plan.One of the things that is clearly emerging already is the resilience of the human spirit and the power of concerted social cooperation. We should all be celebrating that and looking for ways to build on that once the crisis is past.MiWay is a licensed insurer & FSP 33970. Ts & Cs apply.

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