The Resilient SME — Diagnostic Assessment
Structured Business Assessment

The Resilient SME
Diagnostic

A structured self-assessment helping SME leaders surface the structural strengths and fragilities across their business.

55Scored Questions
10–15Minutes
10Resilience Domains
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Email address *
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Your Name (Optional)
Job Title / Role (Optional)
Company Name *
Please enter your company name.
Size of Organisation *
Please select your organisation size.
Country *
Please select your country.
Industry Sector *
Please select your industry sector.
Annual Revenue
Have you completed this assessment before?
Scorecard 1 of 10
01

Please answer based on what is consistently true today, not what is planned or intended.

1. Do you have clear, forward-looking visibility of cash movement?
  • Rolling short-term cash flow forecast (e.g. 13 weeks)
  • Regular updates based on actual movements
  • Leadership understanding of forecast assumptions
Please select a response.
2. Do you understand when money actually arrives and leaves the business?
  • Visibility of customer payment behaviour
  • Awareness of timing gaps between revenue and cash
  • Understanding of major cash outflows and commitments
Please select a response.
3. Is sales behaviour aligned to cash outcomes?
  • Payment terms considered at deal stage
  • Link between pipeline, invoicing, and cash forecasts
  • Sales behaviour aligned to cash, not just bookings
Please select a response.
4. Do you know how much cash you need to stay in control?
  • Defined minimum liquidity threshold
  • Awareness of cash breakpoints that trigger action
  • Access to contingency options
Please select a response.
5. Are cash-related decisions deliberate rather than reactive?
  • Clear ownership of cash decisions
  • Defined rules for discounts or cash acceleration
  • Long-term impact considered
Please select a response.
Optional: What's your biggest challenge with cash flow management? (max 200 characters)
0/200
Scorecard 2 of 10
02
1. Is the person with budget authority actively involved?
  • Direct interaction with the economic buyer
  • Confirmation of budget ownership
  • Clear approval process
Please select a response.
2. Is there a clear, time-bound problem the customer needs to solve?
  • Defined deadline or trigger
  • Agreed consequences of inaction
  • Customer articulates urgency
Please select a response.
3. Do you understand how and when a decision will be made?
  • Defined decision steps
  • Known stakeholders
  • Understood approval requirements
Please select a response.
4. Has the customer validated that your solution meets their needs?
  • Customer confirms fit
  • Feedback on solution relevance
  • Acceptance of approach
Please select a response.
5. Has the customer invested something meaningful in the process?
  • Time commitment
  • Data sharing
  • Internal sponsorship
Please select a response.
Optional: What's your biggest challenge with deal confidence? (max 200 characters)
0/200
Scorecard 3 of 10
03
1. Is the customer's spend stable or growing?
  • Consistent or increasing revenue over time
  • No unexplained volume decline
  • Predictable ordering patterns
Please select a response.
2. How embedded are you in the customer's organisation?
  • Multiple stakeholders engaged
  • More than one product or service used
  • Involvement beyond transactional buying
Please select a response.
3. How easy would it be for the customer to leave?
  • Integration into processes or systems
  • Customisation or embedded knowledge
  • Time or cost required to replace you
Please select a response.
4. Does the customer explicitly recognise your value?
  • Willingness to discuss outcomes, not just price
  • Acceptance of price adjustments
  • Advocacy or reference behaviour
Please select a response.
5. Is there evidence of future intent?
  • Multi-period agreements or renewals
  • Joint planning discussions
  • Visible pipeline of future work
Please select a response.
Optional: What's your biggest challenge with evidence-based customer loyalty? (max 200 characters)
0/200
Scorecard 4 of 10
04
1. Do you clearly understand which activities must not fail?
  • Identified critical products or services
  • Defined tolerable disruption thresholds
  • Leadership agreement on priorities
Please select a response.
2. Are key dependencies understood and visible?
  • Known single points of failure
  • Awareness of key people, suppliers, systems
  • Basic dependency mapping
Please select a response.
3. Are decisions made quickly and clearly during disruption?
  • Clear decision ownership
  • Deputies identified
  • Escalation paths understood
Please select a response.
4. Can the business continue at a minimum viable level?
  • Defined minimum viable operations
  • Basic continuity arrangements
  • Awareness of recovery priorities
Please select a response.
5. Does the business learn from disruption?
  • Review of incidents and near-misses
  • Improvements captured and applied
  • Leadership attention to learning
Please select a response.
Optional: What's your biggest challenge with operational resilience? (max 200 characters)
0/200
Scorecard 5 of 10
05
1. Do you know which risks matter most?
  • Identified key operational, financial, and regulatory risks
  • Leadership agreement on priorities
  • Periodic risk review
Please select a response.
2. Is someone clearly accountable for each key risk?
  • Named risk owners
  • Clear escalation paths
  • Accountability understood
Please select a response.
3. Are important decisions made consistently and transparently?
  • Defined decision forums
  • Clear authority levels
  • Decisions documented where needed
Please select a response.
4. Are controls appropriate to the size and risk of the business?
  • Basic policies in key risk areas
  • Controls understood, not just written
  • Regular review
Please select a response.
5. Can you explain your risk posture to others?
  • Clear responses to customer or insurer questions
  • Consistent messaging
  • Ability to evidence controls
Please select a response.
Optional: What's your biggest challenge with risk and governance? (max 200 characters)
0/200
Scorecard 6 of 10
06
1. Do you know what critical data you hold and where it lives?
  • Identified key data types
  • Awareness of storage locations
  • Basic access controls
Please select a response.
2. Are basic cyber controls in place and understood?
  • Strong authentication
  • Regular updates and backups
  • Staff awareness of threats
Please select a response.
3. Is AI used intentionally and responsibly?
  • Clear AI use cases
  • Human oversight
  • Defined approval processes
Please select a response.
4. Could you respond calmly to a cyber or data incident?
  • Awareness of likely incidents
  • Defined first-response actions
  • Clear leadership ownership
Please select a response.
5. Can you explain your digital controls to others?
  • Clear customer responses
  • Awareness of regulatory obligations
  • Confidence in third-party arrangements
Please select a response.
Optional: What's your biggest challenge with cyber, data and AI? (max 200 characters)
0/200
Scorecard 7 of 10
07
1. Can the business operate effectively without constant senior intervention?
  • Decisions made at appropriate levels
  • Clear authority boundaries
  • Leadership absence does not stall progress
Please select a response.
2. Are critical skills covered with sufficient depth?
  • Awareness of skill gaps
  • More than one person able to perform critical tasks
  • Plans for future needs
Please select a response.
3. Is important knowledge documented and shared?
  • Core processes documented
  • Onboarding supported
  • Reduced reliance on tribal knowledge
Please select a response.
4. Do people feel empowered to decide?
  • Clear decision rights
  • Supportive escalation paths
  • Confidence without fear
Please select a response.
5. Is workload sustainable under pressure?
  • Realistic role expectations
  • Burnout risk awareness
  • Ability to absorb demand spikes
Please select a response.
Optional: What's your biggest challenge with people and leadership? (max 200 characters)
0/200
Scorecard 7A of 10
7A
1. Do people clearly understand what matters most right now?
  • Clear priorities
  • Limited focus messages
  • Consistent leadership messaging
Please select a response.
2. Do leaders' actions reinforce stated messages?
  • Behaviour aligns with priorities
  • Leaders model expectations
  • No visible contradictions
Please select a response.
3. Can issues and risks be raised early without fear?
  • Bad news surfaces quickly
  • Challenge welcomed
  • Escalation paths used
Please select a response.
4. Is communication proportionate and focused?
  • Regular but not overwhelming updates
  • Clear signal vs noise distinction
  • Reduced overload
Please select a response.
5. What behaviours are reinforced through recognition and response?
  • Behaviour rewarded, not just outcomes
  • Failure treated as learning
  • Learning shared
Please select a response.
Optional: What's your biggest challenge with communication and behaviour? (max 200 characters)
0/200
Scorecard 8 of 10
08
1. Are the most important decisions clearly defined?
  • Known decisions
  • Clear ownership
  • Agreed timing
Please select a response.
2. Do you know which data actually informs decisions?
  • Defined leading indicators
  • Clear thresholds
  • Agreement on what matters
Please select a response.
3. Is data trusted enough to act on?
  • Consistent definitions
  • Known limitations
  • Confidence in core numbers
Please select a response.
4. Do different views of the business align?
  • Sales, finance, and operations coherence
  • Shared trade-off understanding
  • Joined-up reviews
Please select a response.
5. Do insights consistently lead to action?
  • Decisions tracked to outcomes
  • Learning captured
  • Adjustments made
Please select a response.
Optional: What's your biggest challenge with decision and data? (max 200 characters)
0/200
Scorecard 9 of 10
09
1. Is growth aligned to strategy and capability?
  • Clear growth intent
  • Strategic fit assessed
  • Capability considered
Please select a response.
2. Is the impact of change understood before committing?
  • Cash impact assessed
  • Capacity implications understood
  • Risks identified
Please select a response.
3. Does the organisation have bandwidth for change?
  • Leadership capacity awareness
  • Delivery capacity visibility
  • Change load managed
Please select a response.
4. Are changes delivered consistently?
  • Execution discipline
  • Delivery tracked
  • Slippage addressed
Please select a response.
5. Does the business adapt based on evidence?
  • Feedback reviewed
  • Learning applied
  • Adjustments made
Please select a response.
Optional: What's your biggest challenge with growth and change? (max 200 characters)
0/200
Scorecard 10 of 10
10
1. Do you understand what truly drives your costs?
  • Visibility of major cost categories
  • Variable vs fixed awareness
  • Margin sensitivity understood
Please select a response.
2. How exposed are you to energy and resource volatility?
  • Energy intensity awareness
  • Usage patterns understood
  • Alternative options known
Please select a response.
3. Can pricing respond to cost changes?
  • Pricing review discipline
  • Ability to adjust terms
  • Customer communication clarity
Please select a response.
4. Can you clearly explain your sustainability position?
  • Honest articulation
  • Regulatory awareness
  • Customer alignment
Please select a response.
5. Are you prepared for external questions?
  • Responses ready for customers, lenders, insurers
  • Consistent messaging
  • Evidence available
Please select a response.
Optional: What's your biggest challenge with energy, cost and sustainability? (max 200 characters)
0/200
FIN

These questions are optional. Answering them allows us to model the potential financial impact of resilience improvements specific to your business.

Approximate Net Profit Margin
Helps estimate how resilience improvements could affect overall profit stability.
Approximate Gross Margin
Operational resilience often affects gross margin through pricing discipline, cost control, and reduced rework.
Typical Customer Payment Terms
Payment timing affects working capital exposure.
Average Actual Debtor Days
How long customers actually take to pay.
Cash Buffer (Revenue Stoppage)
How long could you operate from existing cash reserves?
Largest Customer Concentration
Approx. % of revenue from your largest customer.
Revenue Structure
Recurring revenue behaves differently to project-based revenue under stress.
Use of External Financing
Borrowing structure influences cost of capital and liquidity sensitivity.

You're all done.

Your responses will be used to generate your personalised Resilient SME Diagnostic Report. Please allow up to 24 hours for delivery to your email inbox.

Assessment Submitted

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