After Brexit, The Only Certainty is Uncertainty

The United Kingdom’s vote to depart the European Union has shocked virtually every segment of the global economy and caused immediate, wild gyrations in financial and business markets across the planet.

First: Let’s admit that absolutely no one genuinely knows what will happen next. Proxima B2B reviews dozens of definitive news sources daily; from around the EU and the United Kingdom, as well as the American business media, very little is agreed upon by even the most authoritative voices.

Each and every constituency is trying to drill down through the uncertainty and figure out how the vote--much less the actual exit--would or could impact everything business touches. From currencies to tax and trade structures, to the rules and costs affecting operations outside the UK, to the daily realities of employing staff, business travel across borders, and exactly where and how operations can function effectively…uncertainty rules the day. Credit Suisse, in an immediate post-vote note, described the vote as “the most significant pullback to-date from the post-WWII consensus of closer integration and open trade.”

But this could still be merely a bad dream for the technology companies, enterprise software makers, professional services firms and start-ups that Proxima B2B sales teams represent in the US market. The very same Credit Suisse release features a flow-chart (included below) that sets forth a labyrinthine set of (phenomenally complex and confusing) potential political routes to this whole episode ending with the EU intact--with the UK’s special status perhaps revised, but in place.

Nothing in the chart offers relief from huge uncertainty or the pressing need for businesses, in the UK especially and elsewhere in the European Union, to have a plan for stability in place absolutely as soon as possible.

The timeline for the whole unraveling--should it take place at all--is completely unclear as well. EU leaders said, after the vote, that they preferred an immediate beginning to the exit of the UK and the myriad processes involved in accomplishing the withdrawal. That sounds fairly definitive.

But German chancellor Angela Merkel said over the weekend, “Great Britain has not put into motion this proposal, and also the agreement isn't finished." Her tone and comments suggest that she hopes that this leap into an abyss of Brexit uncertainty can be reversed. She continued, “Great Britain continues to be a full member of the EU with all rights and responsibilities.”

Our international teams at Proxima B2B and Northstar Services are convinced that the German record--of holding sway on important EU matters--will likely be extended, making Chancellor Merkel very active in every way she can assist any UK party prepared to roll up their sleeves and reverse the exit.

In everything about to come after the Brexit vote, “uncertainty” is the only consensus.

Proxima B2B specializes in assisting companies with all aspects of sales and marketing, particularly in the US and Canadian markets. There has never been a better time for firms in Great Britain and in the European Union to establish a presence, and a pipeline of revenue in dollars, in the relatively predictable business climate of the United States. The US economy is stable, profitable and welcomes Proxima B2B’s European and UK-based client firms.