Hurricane season is the perfect time for businesses to be examining (or in some cases developing for the first time) their Business Continuity Plan (BCP). Business continuity planning is key to expediting the recovery of the business’ critical functions following disasters ranging from hurricanes and earthquakes to infiltration of malware into key systems thus ensuring downtime and monetary loss is minimized. The plan should be live, dynamic and ever-evolving as new threats continue to present themselves. With ever-more complex systems and technologies being implemented into companies as scaling necessitates complex telephony and network solutions for businesses, it’s difficult to keep plans up-to-date and ready to be put into action at a moments’ notice.
The speed for growth in today’s business environment mean a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) may one day be perfectly fit for purpose and the next be outdated and far less useful in the event of a catastrophe. New components and regular system upgrades mean that plans can become obsolete quickly, so it is critical to keep it live and up-to-date. Businesses tend to agree that the “what-if” plan will always seem less of a priority than what’s happening in the now! All the technology in the world won’t suffice if your staff isn’t up to speed on what to do when the worst happens.
As your technology partner, DLS can help with putting together a customized cost effective business continuity plan that makes sense for your business and the sort of risks that may present themselves. Seemingly simple things like quickly being able the reroute the communications service through to employee smart phones can maintain critical contact with customers in the face of disaster, and DLS’s remotely hosted phone system and storage solution mean that you can begin to rebuild your business just as soon as the literal or figurative storm dies down.
For instance, in 2014, Chicago auto sales outfit Car Outlet was back rebuilding its’ critical customer files within hours of a fire that destroyed their office on Chicago’s west side. By having their telephony hosted offsite and away from danger of destruction, they were quickly able to pick back up their operations. They’ve also since implemented a new hosted NAS (Network Access Server) solution that provides secure, private cloud and guarantees data sovereignty, exclusively for their needs. This means that the next time the unthinkable happens, Car Outlet will be back in touch with their customers almost instantly. It is however important to remember that while having a technology partner is undoubtedly an important part of a solid Business Continuity Plan (BCP), strong planning and employee engagement will always carry you through the worst.
Are you beginning to think about putting together a Business Continuity Plan for your company? Having the most leading-edge technology implemented isn’t worth a lot unless you and your staff have thought, tested and rehearsed a coherent plan, that is reviewed and updated regularly. This, plus teaming up with an experienced technology partner that can remotely host your communications and remove them from the line of fire will make sure that when something goes wrong, your customers won’t even be aware, keeping your business on it’s usual upward trajectory. It’s a high-stakes task, so if you need more information, reach out to the experts.