COVID-19 – Bibby Financial Services: Protecting colleagues, supporting SMEs and safeguarding the future

• BFS supporting clients through financial uncertainty

• Fast reaction had colleagues working at home in days

• Proactive action helping safeguard future of the business

  

Following strict measures for people to stay at home, every business now needs to adapt quickly and be flexible.

That’s why as a global financial services provider and the UK’s largest independent invoice finance company Bibby Financial Services is perfectly positioned to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during the pandemic and help protect the economy.

 

Supporting SMEs

Due to prudent planning and immediate action BFS has been able to continue supporting clients through a period of huge uncertainty, and since implementing their business continuity plans, there has been no change to their excellent customer service levels.

BFS also recognise that many businesses that have previously not required funding, may now require support due to cashflow pressure.

The message delivered by the PR, social media and marcomms teams is ‘We’re open for business’ with a series of blogs (from leaders in the business) and infographics focusing on the support BFS is providing to SMEs during the pandemic.

Stars (BFS’ internal referral programme) is also doing well and continues to play a crucial role in bringing new clients to the business.   

Sharon Wiltshire, UK Commercial Director said:

“BFS is playing a strong part in the lives of our clients, we’re living up to our ‘open for business’ statement. We’re accessible, picking up the telephone, replying to emails quickly, being there for our clients, showing we care and that we want to help.

“We’ve maintained great service levels and showed some real perseverance and tenacity to provide our clients with the best service that we can in extreme circumstances.”

 

Protecting people

Throughout the pandemic, BFS’ number one priority has been to keep colleagues safe by getting everyone working from home as quickly as possible, which was achieved within days.

For central support teams (HR, Finance, etc) this was fairly straightforward, but for operational teams it meant providing everyone with IT equipment, which led to lots of examples of people going above and beyond to help each other.

Ted Winterton, UK CEO said:

 “I am so proud of how we all responded to something that none of us could ever have foreseen.

“My paramount concern was and is keeping our people safe, and we’ve done everything we can to achieve that. We have protected our colleagues and their families by getting everyone home early on during this pandemic.

“I hope our people are proud of the way that they have adapted to a very different way of working, in such a short space of time. Without them being capable of this, our clients and ultimately our business would have suffered.”

Extra support for colleagues includes:

• A programme of video briefings hosted by the Senior Leadership Team / Excos ensures that the whole company is kept up to date on how the business is performing
• Digital communication innovation including Yammer, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and @BFS intranet to ensure that key messages are shared across the business
• A COVID-19 Microsite acting as a single source of information, including information for line managers, a wellbeing section, a noticeboard section and regularly updated Q&A policies
• The BFS Learning & Development Team has built an interactive learning module for colleagues at home

 

Safeguarding the future of BFS

By concentrating on supporting clients and protecting colleagues this allows BFS to plan to protect itself for the future.

David Postings, Global CEO said:

“During the Coronavirus crisis, our actions have been driven by three clear objectives: protect our people, support SMEs and safeguard the future of BFS. 

“Even before the lockdown was introduced, we quickly redeployed laptop stock and desktop equipment to enable 98% of our people to switch to home working within a matter of days. 

“We applied the same restless energy to ensuring we could continue to support SMEs, providing them with funding solutions which not only help them in the short-term, but also into the future. So, although our offices may have closed, we’re still very much ‘open for business.’  

“And we have taken prudent, proactive action to preserve cash and reduce costs which should enable us to continue to play our part in helping businesses thrive. 

“There’s no doubt that Covid-19 has challenged us hugely and will continue to do so for some time to come.  At BFS, we’ll continue to meet that challenge by digging deep, drawing on our heritage, our values and each other.” 

 

Read more about our companies response to COVID-19

Costcutter Supermarkets Group

Bibby Distribution

Bibby Marine

Garic

BLG Head Office