Continuity of Service
Baker Ing would like to reassure all our clients and partners of continuity of service at this unprecedented time.
We understand this is an incredibly challenging time for all of you around the world. We are here to support you and your businesses.
We are operating business as usual and are monitoring government guidelines in the UK and around the world. We are thankful that our operational model is designed such that it will be unaffected by remote working practices, which industry-at-large is now having quite suddenly to adapt to.
Our hybrid delivery model allows us to connect our clients with the most appropriate senior credit professionals, in-country, whom we support within a remote operational and technical infrastructure. Further, we have employed a decentralised operational model since Baker Ing’s inception, whereby unnecessary layers of business administration, communication and physical infrastructure is foregone in favour of greater devolved authority to our senior credit professionals on-the-ground, and a more direct and personal relationship with our clients. This thankfully means that not only are our employees used to working remotely but, they thankfully have been able to undertake social distancing measures early and with relative ease – reducing their exposure to transport and office environments.
Advisory Actions
At this time, we anticipate significant global cashflow problems and are advising our clients to move quickly to settle outstanding matters with maximum flexibility and pragmatism. Further, we advise our clients to undertake the following actions:
• Monitoring weekly cash collection versus prior year to see the impact.
• Listing all payments that customers have advised will not be made and determining how this will impact the aging at month end.
• Granting payment holidays in order to spread payments over Apr/May/Jun.
• Advising customers to seek financial support offered by the local country in order to meet its obligations, including our invoices.
• Assessing the impact on workload when this issue is over – plan for engaging temps or outsourcing for an extended number of months.
• Assessing bad debt provisions and making the business aware of the potential impact.
Global Impact
We are truly thankful that we are experiencing, and expect, no disruption to our operational model as a result of the social distancing measures and travel restrictions that are being introduced. Services are, and will, continue as normal. We will be doing everything in our power to support you and your business during this time.
We are working daily with our in-country lawyers across Europe, who are keeping us informed of changes to local legislation that may impact upon the collections and legal processes. We will keep our website updated at regular intervals as more information becomes available. Please register here to receive updates to your inbox: https://bakering.global/resources/register/
For the countries on ‘lockdown’, this will have a significant impact on all arrears, including retail and the court systems. Please note that any court actions currently underway in those countries will have a delay until the courts reopen and the backlog is then cleared.
And Finally
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients, partners and employees around the world for working with us. We are thinking of you and your loved ones at this time and we wish you all the very best of health. Do not hesitate to contact us if we can help you in any way at all. This is more than just business.
If you have any questions, would like further advice, or more information about how we are handling this crisis to ensure continuity of service, please contact us:
Sarah Ing: sarah@bakering.global
Lisa Baker-Reynolds: lisa@bakering.global
Sincerely,
Sarah Ing, Director
Lisa Baker-Reynolds, Director
Baker Ing International Ltd.
Office 7, 35 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7JN, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 0207 871 1790
For the latest information on the pandemic, we recommend:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19
https://www.acas.org.uk/coronavirus