Your Business Continuity Plan Is Failing. What Now?

How effective has your business continuity plan since COVID-19 hit?

If it hasn’t led to as smooth a transition to remote working as you’d hoped, it’s time for a change. Your business continuity plan failing is a big sign that your current preparations weren’t enough to handle unexpected IT changes, and that can have a significant impact on whether your business makes it out the other side of such events.

Even if your continuity plan was just adequate, it’s still critical that you make improvements now to ensure it is ready to lead your business to success should future disasters cause IT disruptions. The last thing that you need during the global pandemic or any other catastrophe is to lose productivity and uptime. And with the prediction that the global economy will lose 2.4% of its GDP value, you need a way of protecting yourself from these threats. Organizations are now using SharePoint web parts. This helps you organize information, people, and projects.

To help guide you, here are some top tips that you can use to improve your business’s continuity plan so that your company can not only sustain productivity during the pandemic but also be prepared for the future:

1. Increase Efficiency through Mechanization

Although efficiency may be at risk due to a number of factors, such as distractions at home and unfamiliarity with remote working, it’s vital that productivity is retained. To ensure that this happens, it’s a good idea to utilize tools that will enhance your workforce’s performance while working from home. 

Whether you’re looking for a way to automate tasks such as managing projects, hiring new employees, or communicating with coworkers, there are systems out there that you can and should utilize during this time. These range from video conferencing apps such as Zoom to collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams. There are also advances being made for highly effective email automation software and even AI interviewing software that can monitor the facial expressions and responses of job candidates.

2. Harness the Power of the Cloud or VPN

Over the last few years, more and more businesses are discovering the advantages of cloud computing. A technology that has transformed the world of data management, cloud solutions are something all businesses should consider throughout the pandemic. 

Cloud computing not only makes working remotely much simpler for your employees; it also secures data stored in the platform and can scale along with your needs. Promoting efficiency by allowing you to control workloads and operations, it will help your business to stay afloat during this demanding time in the economy.

Your business can also utilize resources such as a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to ensure secure data access. According to the best VPN in Canada, trough this private connection, employees are able to connect to in-servers safely and securely from home. VPNs allow you to maintain the security controls implemented on your in-house servers as employees access them from different devices and locations.

3. Get Robust Business Continuity Services from an MSP

Throughout this transition period, every business needs to identify ways to maximize efficiency within their processes, and this includes within their IT. One key way of cultivating productivity and ensuring your remote network is optimized is by outsourcing your business continuity services to a Managed Service Provider (MSP). 

A Managed Service Provider can help to get your business’s continuity plan back on track by strategizing technology according to your unique business needs. An MSP can help revitalize your IT department so that your business doesn’t face any disturbances in operations due to potential adjustments that you’ve had to make with going remote.

Managed IT services are also beneficial to help prepare you for the future by developing stronger business continuity plans and preparing you for infrastructure changes. They can help you discover methods that will improve the foundation of your business, as well as the way that your network is setup (and safeguarded) remotely through a comprehensive evaluation. This not only promotes enhanced productivity, but cuts costs in the long term as compared to hiring an in-house team. If you have other questions about network automation, you might want to visit sites like https://www.netbraintech.com/blog/network-automation/ to learn more.

4. Prioritize Employee Connectivity

Although video conferencing is likely something you’re already using, your business should also be prioritizing other forms of connectivity, including data collection, visual answering machines, and more.

One option for improving communication amongst your employees and with customers is through the telecommunication solution, VoIP. VoIP phone systems safeguard each call and allow you to use them remotely and across several different devices. It also is a huge cost saver when compared to traditional phone lines.

A contingency plan when a natural disaster hits your business should also be in place to ensure that business operations will still continue. There are a lot of ways you can do to prepare your business for such events as hurricanes and earthquakes. One of them is investing in intermodal shelter system solutions which will ensure your workers’ safety and at the same provide a temporary workspace.

By following the above tips, you’ll be able to refresh your business continuity plan so that it aids motivation, productivity, and growth throughout the global pandemic and in the future.