Almost 60% of UK small businesses admit their business suffered as a result of the winter weather last week, despite 78% saying they thought their company was prepared to cope with the snow chaos, according to a survey commissioned by Citrix GoToMyPC.

The YouGov poll of over 500 senior decision makers at small firms showed some firms did take measures to improve business continuity. The survey found that 25% of companies enabled more staff to work from home, and 10% held more online meetings. But small businesses could have done more to prepare, as only 42% said they have a business continuity plan in place.

A quarter of small firms said staff were late into work, while 26% reported that some staff couldn’t make it into the workplace at all. In addition, 21% found that key suppliers and contacts were not available, and 26% had to cancel or postpone business meetings.

As many as 74% of British workers were affected by last week’s winter conditions, with 8% forced to stay home due to school closures and 12% not able to work at all, according to a related GoToMyPC study of more than 2,000 adults.

Andrew Millard, director of eCommerce EMEA for Citrix Online’s GoToMyPC, said, “Many businesses thought they were sufficiently prepared to handle the snow, but the sheer scale of the disruption and a lack of planning from the government has taken its toll. With more snow on the way, now is the time to revisit or put in place business continuity plans."

Citrix GoToMyPC top five tips for businesses to stand them in good stead for handling the unexpected:

1. Communicate clearly in advance with your workers so that they know what they need to do if they can’t get into the office.
2. Equip employees with remote access and web conferencing technology.
3. Communicate with your customers – let them know of potential problems as early as possible and keep communication channels open.
4. Consider alternatives – for instance, conduct meetings online instead.
5. Put in place a business continuity leader responsible for coordinating efforts and informing all staff of the potential impacts and company policies.

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