2020 was a good example of how unanticipated events can happen and have a serious impact on your business operations. They can stop operations altogether and they can also impact buying behaviors that can affect your bottom line.
If you do not have a mitigation and response plan for these types of events, it can harm a company’s ability to operate. One ransomware attack or natural disaster can cause irreparable damage.
60% of small businesses close their doors for good within 6 months of a cyberattack.
The area that is designed to address these concerns is called business continuity. Business continuity plans involve taking a two-pronged approach to protect your company in the event of a crisis incident.
The two main approaches include:
- Mitigate the potential for harm
- Create a structure of resilience for fast recovery
There are any number of things that can cause an organization to stop operations for either a few hours or several days. During continuity planning, these are anticipated and strategies are put together to defend against them as well as to mitigate damage.
Some of the common crisis events that can impact a business include:
- Man-made or natural disaster (fire, flood, tornado, etc.)
- Data breach incident
- Ransomware or other malware attack
- Extended power or internet outage
- Winter storms
- Crashed hard drive or other technology failure
- Theft of equipment or office break-in
- Pandemic
In order to plan for both mitigation of and recovery from these types of events, it requires a plan that involves deploying business technology in a number of ways.
Using Technology for Business Resiliency
Business continuity and technology intersect in two ways. The first way is that technology problems themselves can be a cause for operations to cease. The second way is that technology is a vital part of planning for business resiliency.
The following are some of the ways that your technology is critical to a business continuity plan:
Cloud Technologies Enable Working from Anywhere
Many potential crisis events that can impact business operations make it difficult or impossible to work from a central office location. For example, a major snow or ice storm hitting Westbrook, Connecticut could make it impossible for employees to get to work. In the case of the pandemic, stay-at-home orders may be issued.
Using cloud software and workflows can improve your company’s resiliency because they allow people to connect to their data and programs and work from any location.
If the pandemic happened twenty years ago, it would have been much more difficult for many businesses to stay operational. The invention of cloud-based work processes and tools like VoIP phone systems have made it possible for companies to operate just as effectively with employees telecommuting as when they are all in the same office.
Automated Protections Against Data Breaches
Technology is also a vital component when it comes to protecting your company from a major data breach or malware infection. Automated systems like managed antivirus and advanced threat protection can be implemented to seek out potential threats and remove them before they can cause any harm.
The move of information from paper files and filing cabinets to digital files over the last two decades makes it vital to have the right IT security protections in place to mitigate a potential breach.
Ensuring All Your Data is Safely Backed Up & Recoverable
Data loss incidents are another disaster that can cause business disruption. A server hard drive crash can mean hours or days of downtime while data recovery or recreation efforts are under way.
Ransomware can also encrypt all of your business data in different network systems which makes it unusable. Many companies end up having to pay the ransom because they don’t have a backup and need to get their operations back up and running as soon as possible.
At the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, Hartford, CT public schools had to postpone the first day of school due to a ransomware attack.
A reliable data backup and recovery strategy that safely backs up data offsite for security is a must in business continuity planning. It ensures that no matter what happens, you can still operate and have all of your records and data intact.
Theft Prevention Through Smart Security Systems
While there are some crisis events that you can’t stop from happening (like a natural disaster), there are some that you do have more control over. For example, a break-in and theft of your computer equipment can be thwarted with the right technology in place.
Security camera systems have come down significantly in price for businesses because of wireless connectivity. This makes it both easy and affordable to install security systems to help mitigate break-ins and theft.
Other technology systems include two-way voice cameras, alarm systems that can alert you through your smartphone and smart locks that can be programmed with codes remotely.
Get Help With Your Business Continuity Strategy!
Sound Computers has business continuity experts on staff that can help you deploy smart technology approaches to keep your business resilient in the face of the unknown.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Call 860-577-8060 or reach us online.