2020’s massive shift from everyday operations to a total change in how most companies do business shook many to their core. Even for those who had a plan in place for life-changing events, the COVID-19 pandemic is presenting many challenges to businesses and workforces. For those who had no solid plan in place, the year’s difficulties are proving even more disruptive.
For the most part, even small disruptions can affect those who aren’t prepared for hiccups and occasional issues. IT solutions experts believe that every business should have a continuity plan in case things like power outages, server failures, and technological difficulties prove to put a wrench in operations. Let’s talk about what a business continuity plan is and why it’s so important.
What is a Business Continuity Plan?
Nobody can predict a global pandemic, but other errors that pop up in normal business operations can be somewhat common. Things like disruptions to your internet services, power outages, and data storage issues can be astronomically difficult to recover from if they result in the loss of important organizational data and files. Everyone from your business partners to employees is affected by these sorts of happenings. So, how can you prepare for the unexpected? By knowing it can happen at any time and having a plan for when it does.
Creating a Continuity Plan
When it comes to the technology we use to run our businesses, IT services, and cloud hosting are proving to be the best tool in creating a reliable continuity plan. With these services in tow, things like internet failure or power outages that could damage your files and data aren’t a concern. How can that be?
Any good continuity plan for a business of any size starts with the first decisions made after a technological issue. Something small like not getting access to a server might be a quick phone call. In larger cases, however, what happens when your power goes out and servers can’t come back online? The plan needs to include a detailed list of things to begin doing to ensure you limit the harm caused by the event and work towards getting operations back up to 100% as quickly as possible.
Important Factors to Consider for a Business Continuity Plan
If you’re experiencing one of these issues, you’ll want to first ensure you contact those who can help. If you don’t subscribe to an IT services provider, then you’re going to be going it alone. This sort of problem can be costly and time consuming to tackle on your own. If you have a cloud hosting service or utilize IT support, you’ll want to contact them right away. They might be able to address an issue other clients are experiencing if it’s an issue regarding software. If it’s something to do with your office or work network, then they can get you started on the solution.
While you’re contacting people, you’ll also want to notify those who are directly impacted at the moment of the issue. That could include employees, partners with whom you planned on meeting or working with that day, and key personnel who help run your business. If there’s an issue that requires emergency responders or technicians like a fire or electrical issue, then be sure to contact the appropriate people.
What’s the Best Way to Defend Against These Unexpected Issues?
When you don’t regularly have power outages or system failures, then it might seem like hiring someone to protect against these issues is a waste of resources. The fact of the matter is anyone can be impacted by this sort of occurrence. There’s no predicting it outside known threats like weather or construction. So, how can you defend yourself in the best way possible? Hiring an IT services provider really pays off at times like this.
When you subscribe to an IT and cloud provider, you’re likely getting a few perks that benefit you at times like this. Firstly, data backups are likely cloud-hosted meaning that the destruction of physical servers does not mean the loss of your files and information. Secondly, the process of building your operations back up to normal is immediately easier with experts on-call.
While the actual likelihood of an issue like this occurring might be up for debate, nobody is immune to technological disaster. Knowing you have the right resources in place to help you address these issues is just a perk on top of the many solutions that IT service providers offer. Consider it a fail-safe on top of the many perks they offer when things are going well like cloud hosting, virtualization, and more.
If you’re not set up with an IT service provider now, it’s a great time to look into the option. Costs are usually determined by the size of your business and the services you require. This can make them affordable as well as effective in completing your business continuity plan.
Contact IT Vortex for any of your Cloud Services and/or Managed IT Services today!