The last 12 months have more than highlighted the need for organization to seriously invest in business continuity. Understanding potential vulnerabilities and implementing a plan to ensure you stay operational in the case of emergency is essential to the reputation and growth of your business.
1. Find A Partner That Understands Your Needs
Contracting with a company this is committed to understanding your needs and has access to the resources and knowledge to create an effective business continuity plan tailored to your business is an important first step.
2. Run A Risk Assessment And Identify Vulnerabilities
Putting your systems, technology and processes to the test will help you to identify any vulnerabilities or short comings you may need to address in your plan. Your assessment should consider anything that could potentially disrupt operations.
3. Run A Business Impact Analysis
Running a business impact analysis will help you to identify and prioritize the most important aspects of your business and ensure continuity for those items ahead of the things that are simply nice to have.
4. Adopt New Technology
Technology plays a major role in business continuity and figuring out what will fit your organizational needs is essential. VoIP platforms, cloud computing, marketing automation and meeting software are a good place to start.
5. Create Policies, Procedures And Requirements
A business continuity plan is not a one-time thing. Ensuring your team is committed to following through on your strategy and regularly auditing your business continuity plan to ensure everything is up to date will ensure you are prepared for the worst.
6. Develop Several Contingency Plans
While it may not be possible to think of every possible scenario, it is important to have a litany of contingency plans to give your business flexibility. Every disaster is different, and the way you respond may need to change depending on the issue.
7. Test And Implement Your Strategy
It is important to know whether or not your business continuity plan is going to work when the time comes. Running extensive tests to ensure your operations will not be hindered in an emergency will help to shake out any bugs and identify areas you may have missed.
Alto9 works with organizations to get business continuity right. Our strategic partnerships and extensive expertise allow us to understand your needs and deliver a solution that fits your business. Contact us to learn how Alto9 helped Winn Technology Group remain fully operational throughout the pandemic.
