Dutch Entrepreneurs Increasingly Concerned About Business Disruptions, Many Lack Preparedness
Dutch entrepreneurs are demonstrating growing concern over potential disruptions to their businesses, ranging from power outages to internet failures. A recent survey reveals that seven in ten have considered the impact of incidents like these on their operations. The potential consequences are important: one in ten anticipate serious damage after just one day without power, rising to almost a quarter with a disruption lasting several days, and nearly half facing serious consequences from an outage of one to two weeks.
The primary worries center around losing customer contact and halting essential processes due to malfunctioning systems or equipment. Payment transaction issues and problems with cloud software also contribute to entrepreneurs’ anxieties.
Despite this heightened awareness, preparedness levels remain low. Many companies currently lack crucial safeguards such as emergency plans, data backups, enhanced IT security measures, or emergency power sources.
Beyond domestic disruptions, global instability is also weighing on the Dutch business community. Nearly a quarter of entrepreneurs report experiencing direct consequences from international unrest,and two-thirds of those indicate the impact has increased in the past year. Concerns about cyber threats are also on the rise,with almost a quarter of entrepreneurs now viewing them as serious – a significant jump from the one in ten who felt this way in 2022.
“There is a lot going on in the world: wars, trade wars, discussions about import and export tariffs,” explains Christiaan Hazelaar, a business advisor at KVK (Netherlands Chamber of Commerce). “Entrepreneurs can also directly experience the consequences. It is about knowing what risks you run and what that means for your company.”
