Continuity Planning for the Post-Coronavirus World
While we are arguably still in the midst of the greatest global crisis of the modern age, the last few weeks have seen a shift towards planning for the return to ‘normal’. If there's one thing that we have collectively discovered during this pandemic, it’s how important worst-case scenario planning truly is.
Traditional business continuity and disaster plans are largely aimed at what to do when utilities and buildings are impacted. Few of them provide guidance on how to sustain daily activities during a pandemic. Yet, within a matter of weeks, we’ve had to adapt to living with travel bans, office closures, home quarantines, and supply chain breakdowns.
For us, business continuity and contingency planning are the world we live in. This foresight has allowed our clients, and our own team, to weather the worst of the COVID-19 panic. But, now we’re looking ahead to the challenges we may face in the post-coronavirus world and how to prepare for the next major catastrophe.
The Short Term
The first critical step is to evaluate and develop a business continuity plan that delivers the kind of resiliency necessary to respond to whatever the pandemic response will yield in the weeks and months to come. While it seems like the worst is behind us, we have no idea what may happen in the near future. Our only current constant is change, and organizations that can adapt to those changes will be the ones to survive this crisis.
Some things to consider:
Many organizations are operating with lowered productivity expectations, leaner staff, and a temporary mindset. But what happens if things continue the way they currently are? What about if social distancing restrictions fluctuate for the foreseeable future?
Do you have plans in place for transitioning employees back to being in the office full time or offering hybrid work formats?
What happens if layoffs become necessary or large numbers of your staff fall ill? Does your organization have plans for picking up the slack? What about quickly removing access to the network for laid off remote employees?
While the majority of the focus will be on ensuring remote-work applications and platforms for employees, your IT firm or internal IT team should also play a role in crafting broader contingency plans.
The Long Term
In today’s world, your IT firm should become central to your contingency planning. Technology mediates almost every interaction in business these days so it’s important that plans address future needs for remote work and virtual connectedness.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity should be at the forefront of all remote work planning. Hackers are notorious for using disasters and crises to their advantage. Remote work presents far more opportunities for cybercriminals to access your critical data.
The Human Element
Your IT provider can also help human resources set up contingency plans for when critical employees get sick or immediate layoffs become necessary. This can include developing emergency workflows that shift key responsibilities to alternate personnel, or long-term plans to manage a larger-than-usual share of workers requesting leave or going on disability.
Customer Support
The final piece of the continuity puzzle is to ensure your customer-facing IT systems can support changing needs. For instance, shifting in-person meetings to virtual platforms or offering more online-only products or services.
The good news is that all of the adapting your organization has had to do in the last few months has put much of the tech infrastructure needed to support contingency plans in place for the future. The challenge will be to scale it effectively and securely, and plan for a variety of worst-case scenarios.
Kotman Technology has been delivering comprehensive technology solutions to clients in California and Michigan for nearly two decades. With a customer retention of over 98%, we pride ourselves on being the last technology partner you'll ever need. Contact us today to experience the Kotman Difference.