Coronavirus has thrown most companies for a loop they never expected. Your employees have never done this. Your management has never done this! And the call for change in your business plan has drawn a bright spotlight to an area you may never have noticed before.
Rather than think of it as disaster recovery, focus on business continuity planning.
Disaster Recovery VS Business Continuity
Your strategies should revolve around situations that could cause a disrupt in the normal way of business. Disaster recovery is often focused on helping a company bounce back after an event. With disaster recovery, we want to help clients prepare to restore lost data, fix infrastructure or and return to operations as quickly as possible.
When it comes to a situation like COVID-19, companies weren’t fitting that disaster recovery bill. There wasn’t anything to bounce back to, since companies couldn’t have their workers in the office. Instead, plans needed to incorporate methods and tools that would allow companies to continue their workflow with different methods. Business continuity plans were established to consider options, expectations and policies that would happen in cases where normal business was disrupted.
Alternative business methods, like those in a business continuity plan, could be put in place now and used for times when similar issues occur. Weather events, public transportation issues and massive outbreaks of illness are all examples of times when this business continuity plan might come into play.
Establishing a Business Continuity Plan
When you are considering the unknown, there are a number of variables that could make it hard to nail down a solid plan. You can establish a business continuity plan so your company has a direction to go in when something drastic occurs and stops you from business as usual.
Remote Collaboration
Perhaps one of the most important things will be having a way for your employees to intuitively collaborate. A number of IT departments didn’t have remote meetings and video call options written into their continuity plan. Without a way to connect, work is often hampered and miscommunication is common. Virtual conference options have to be in place with a reliable platform that is easy for employees to navigate. Many companies have access to cloud storage, but this should be readily in place with a workflow tool that helps manage assignments and teams.
Security
Companies can get into compliance issues or face threats of fines if they aren’t carefully guarding customer and client data. With remote work access, there can be a concern for security. IT departments need to consider the rules for device use, specifically if employees are working from their own computers or phones at home. Companies may need to provide certain employees with laptops, notepads and phones for remote work and this should be mapped out ahead of time.
Management Challenges
Team building and management reviews can be much harder when remote work is forced onto your company. A continuity plan needs to address the challenges management will face and how they can best lead their teams to productivity.
The plan itself should be written by more than just the CIO and IT leaders. Every department head and management team should be included in the creation of the continuity plan. Most leaders will have their own set of concerns and insights into what may need to be addressed in the plan.
Temporary Staffing Changes
There is a potential that some jobs are going to be less important (or even irrelevant) when a business continuity plan is needed. This means certain employees should be moved to different temporary tasks if at all possible. For example, a receptionist would be moved to very basic IT or data entry jobs. These potential job shifts should be considered and outlined in the plan.
Agile Goals
When the capabilities of the company change, the goals should change too. The normal business goals will likely need to be replaced with temporary goals. Consider some good goals for maintaining a certain level of business productivity and then consider what goals might be better reached during the remote period. For example, businesses may have decided to take the COVID-19 opportunity to flesh out their websites, update their content and focus on better (more consistent) social media presence. With so many people stuck at home and turning to online activity, businesses were smart to put increased focus here during the pandemic.
Department Adaptability
Because you don’t know what issues could arise, you won’t know exactly how to plan for them. Departments should stay agile and ready to adapt as needed. This will require management to stay in contact with your staff and employees. When issues come up, the department should be ready to adjust in a way that is good for employees and company direction.
Feeling unprepared? EOS can help.
We offer remote support and business continuity solutions to help your company. Trust our expert team to provide you with tools you need for success in unfamiliar territory. We can help your remote workforce keep making calls, running collaborative meetings and other remote support options. Call us now at (888)415-3600
