Nearly half of firms in Singapore to review their business continuity plans: survey

Singapore

SOME 44 per cent of companies in Singapore plan to review their business continuity plans (BCPs) in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a survey showed.

The companies include those which have already consolidated offices or were planning to consolidate operations into a single location.

The flash survey, by CBRE Research, showed that 40 per cent of all polled were considering splitting their operations across multiple office locations.

Desmond Sim, head of research (South-east Asia) for CBRE, pointed out that the Covid-19 has been a testing ground for BCPs. Some occupiers may have found that their strategies do not work.

"More and more occupiers are looking at a 'hub and spoke model'," said Mr Sim, adding that prior to the pandemic, having a centralised office as well as a decentralised node was more about equalising costs. "A dual-location model helps with BCP."

CBRE surveyed occupiers across the Asia-Pacific to get their views on their individual markets. Of the 264 polled across Asia-Pacific, 10 per cent were from Singapore. The survey was carried out between March 23 and April 5, before Singapore's "circuit breaker" - which requires non-essential employees to work from home - kicked in.

Mr Sim reckoned that more multi-national corporations would leverage the hub and spoke model. Smaller to medium sized firms would opt for the "core and flex" model, where companies will have a core office but leverage flexible space such as co-working outfits to scale up or down in line with their needs.

While the need for face-to-face meetings will remain, Mr Sim reckoned that occupiers would be more open-minded about exploring working from home (WFH) as a viable alternative. Nearly all - 96 per cent - companies here plan to boost their use of technology to support remote working after the outbreak. Close to 70 per cent said that they would ramp up their use of flexible working.

"Working from home used to be on the wish list, but now it is a reality. It may not work for everyone, but depending on the industry, I wouldn't be surprised to see WFH as a viable option," said Mr Sim, pointing in particular to industries or job roles where employees are typically on the road.

The survey also showed that the leasing decisions of nearly 70 per cent of respondents were affected by the Covid-19 outbreak as they hit pause on expansion plans, including site visits.

Also, 69 per cent of those polled expect the business environment to worsen in the second half of 2020, while 76 per cent expect lower revenues this year. Some 57 per cent expect revenue to fall by 10-30 per cent, while 10 per cent see it dropping by more than 30 per cent.

At the time the survey was carried out, 77 per cent of occupiers said that they had not been offered relief by landlords, while 35 per cent had kickstarted talks with landlords to seek relief.