The Sequel: Your Business Continuity Planning
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught businesses of all shapes and sizes numerous lessons in 2020. Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular have felt the impact of this “new normal” in unexpected ways and, if nothing else, it has highlighted the need for a Business Continuity Plan (BCP).
When all this started at the beginning of 2020, few realized how great an impact the #StayAtHome requirements would have on businesses. In fact, many believed that this lockdown would be over within a matter of weeks and counted the days to when they could go back to the relative calm of an office.
Pandemic pandemonium
As weeks stretched into months, many businesses found themselves in dire straits as they scrambled to find longer-term solutions for staff and did what they could to equip their teams with sufficient resources to ensure business operations could continue from remote locations.
Businesses with BCPs fared better than most due to the fact that their plans included a predetermined set of protocols that defined how the business would react in the event of an emergency or in the face of a natural or man-made disaster.
Even businesses who considered themselves prepared made adjustments as they recognized the need to evolve in the face of all the change that came their way. Fortunately, as 2020 draws to a close, a great many lessons can be noted and added to new or existing plans for an even more successful 2021, especially when it comes to managed IT services and cybersecurity.
What have we learned?
One of the key takeaways from 2020 is how many desk-based jobs can be done from remote locations. Thanks to laptops and fibre connectivity, office workers from all over the world found themselves setting up a home office at dining room tables, the couch or laundry room as they wrapped their heads around how to get things down without leaving their homes.
While many businesses had made allowance for up to 25% of their staff complement to work remotely, suddenly having as many as 90% working from home may have led to a strain on IT resources.
This, in turn, possibly highlighted the need to create a comprehensive IT plan that included a long-term security solution to adequately support remote employees – whether through training on how to get the most from Microsoft Cloud or equipping the IT infrastructure with protection against hackers.
Finding the right fit
Depending on the size and needs of your company, you may simply need to unburden, augment and empower your existing IT department, or outsource the IT functionality instead and have it run by an experienced team of experts. Ultimately, now is an excellent time to take stock of what worked, and what needs tweaking and seek solutions for any tech difficulties that were a trend this past year.
The Numata technology experts are standing by to assist with all your managed IT service needs and are ready, willing and able to ensure that your business is adequately equipped with the necessary cybersecurity to protect your business. Contact us today.