Is your business ready for 2025?
Snapshot Summary
As 2025 rapidly approaches, businesses must prepare for upcoming challenges and opportunities. Key steps include creating a detailed business plan, conducting market research, investing in technology, and developing your team. Remaining adaptable, future-proofing your business, and planning for succession and a potential exit are also essential. Early preparation will help navigate challenges and seize opportunities with confidence.
2025 is rapidly approaching, therefore businesses must be strategically preparing for the challenges and opportunities through the coming year. In this article, we discuss 8 key points to help kickstart 2025:
Creating a business plan for 2025Creating a business plan for the year ahead is crucial to ensure continued growth and success throughout 2025. A well thought out business plan allows you to see the bigger picture, plan ahead, and help guide important decisions. A business plan allows you to lay out your business goals, track, and be accountable for them throughout the year.
A good business plan should include clearly defined goals and objectives for the upcoming year, a detailed budget to ensure that you are allocating resources effectively, and a succession plan to identify and develop potential successors for key positions in your business. If you haven’t already created a business plan for 2025, you can find more information on how to create one here.
Market researchUnderstanding your market is key to staying competitive, therefore it is important to stay on top of market trends. Identifying trends will help to keep up with industry developments and the ever-changing target audience preferences. Using surveys and feedback can help to further understand your customer. Conducting market research ensures that you are making informed decisions, it also helps to identify any emerging opportunities and potential threats to your business.
Develop your teamYour employees are your greatest asset to the business; therefore, it is crucial that you are supporting them and ensuring that everyone is aligned with the company values and goals. Is there any additional training that could be offered? Offering training to employees can help to further develop skills. A team building day could be a great way to refresh on company values and goals and creating a positive and productive start to the year.
Invest in technology and systemsTechnology is ever-changing; therefore, it is important to invest in the best technology for your business to ensure you are providing the best service possible to your customers. We recommend staying aware of new technologies that could benefit your business. Exploring automation can help save time and money, particularly on high labour tasks such as data management and also helps to reduce errors.
Remain adaptableIn business things can change very quickly, with innovative market disrupters such as Uber, Airbnb and Dollar Shave Club coupled with events like the COVID pandemic and conflicts across the globe businesses and whole industries can be turned on their head overnight. Therefore, remaining flexible and adaptable is key in the ever-changing business world. Ensure that you are monitoring changes, remain open to innovation and new technologies, and have strategies in place for if potential challenges or setbacks arise. Keeping ahead of the curve and fostering a creative and innovative culture can assist in ensuring your success. Failure or refusal to adapt to change in your market and industry and continue what you've always done won't mean your firm's growth will continue at the same rate it always has.
Future-proof your businessIs your business future-proofed? Running a business comes with various risks and threats. No matter what industry you work in, even the most optimistic entrepreneur should ensure that they’re prepared for worst-case scenarios. It is crucial to be clear on what threats your business may face, this will allow you to create a plan to ensure that your business is future-proofed.
Succession planningWe often find that many businesses don’t have a succession plan in place. A well-thought-out succession plan ensures that the right people and processes are in place for the day that you retire and walk away from your business. Therefore, to ensure continuity it’s important to identify the key roles within the business and develop internal talent. When succession planning is done well, it helps businesses be prepared for when talent needs arise, it guides talent development over time and identifies talent risk.
Planning for an eventual business exitIt is never too early to start planning your future business exit. Whether you’re planning on exiting sooner rather than later, it is a strategic move and requires careful consideration and planning. There are various routes to exiting a business that you can consider, such as implementing an employee share plan, or a holding company buyout. If you are considering a business exit in the near future, we highly recommend looking at your options now, ahead of various tax changes taking place in April, to ensure that you benefit from the current favourable rates.
Preparing for the year ahead now, will help to navigate future challenges and take opportunities with confidence. With years of experience in helping clients map out their future, we can work with you to clarify your goals and formulate a clear plan for you, giving you inspiration and direction to help you maximise your growth potential. We have specifically designed service packages to take your business to the next level, including quarterly face-to-face or online meetings, a well-structured business growth programme and unlimited day-to-day support.
If you would like to discover more about how we can help you grow and support you and your business in 2025, get in touch to book a no-obligation 30-minute tailored discussion with one of our consultants. For your prosperity, tomorrow, start planning today.
For more information on how we can help you and your business, please contact us via email or phone and we will be happy to advise on the best solutions for your business.
Please note: This article is provided for information only and was correct as at the time of writing (19/09/24). Any lists and details provided above are not exhaustive and are not intended to be full and complete guidance. No action should be taken without consulting detailed legislation or seeking independent professional advice. Therefore, no responsibility for loss occasioned by any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the material contained in this article can be accepted.
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