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Working from home is not going anywhere. In fact, research shows that post-pandemic 42% of employees who worked strictly from a company-based location will not return to the office. Do you know how this will impact your business? Learn more about the tools needed to protect your client data and improve employee productivity.

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Business Continuity Plans: Invaluable Recovery Strategy

Gary Powell
3 min read
Aug 13, 2019 10:00:00 AM

The purpose of business continuity plans is multifold

When it comes to creating a plan for long-term business viability, a business continuity plan plays a key role. But what is a business continuity plan, and what is its purpose?

“A business continuity plan is a document that helps an organization plan for a disaster and outlines their priority of business processes, restoration, and their interdependencies.  The core purpose of a business continuity plan is developing resiliency in your organization so should an incident occur you have a plan in place to make your return to normal operations as fast as possible,” explains Gary Powell, Compliance Officer for Locknet Managed IT.

Reasons a business continuity plan is essential:

Employees need to know exactly how to execute a timely recovery

Without a plan in place, when disaster or disruption hits, your staff won’t know their next steps. Even your highest-performing employees need direction, particularly when a disaster hits and your organization is under major stress. By developing a business continuity plan, you can rest assured that your staff is all on the same page and the strategy can be put into place without delay.

You will gain a full understanding of how your vendors are looking out for you

When it comes to business continuity, the solutions don’t stop with you. No doubt you have a network of vendors who support your business too.

“Businesses should be discussing what their vendors’ business continuity plan process is when performing vendor management,” says Powell. “Or at least that their vendors have a policy in place, so they have an idea about the expected return to operations.”

You’ll have a clear picture of what insurance does, and does not cover

Some business leaders make the mistake of assuming insurance will cover them in the event of an emergency. But, insurance cannot be your business continuity strategy. While your insurance coverage is an essential aspect of your business continuity plan, your organization is likely to incur other losses and damages that will not be covered.  Only when you consult with your insurance company will you know what to expect. And remember, insurance is not the same as restoring your operational capabilities.

You’ll mitigate risk from disaster and eliminate vulnerabilities

At its core, business continuity planning shores up your business in the event of disasters, such as weather-related events, that could impact operations. Without a plan in place, businesses become vulnerable to risk. So, the purpose of a business continuity plan is to manage that threat and ensure the enterprise can weather any storm—meteorological, or otherwise. Research shows that a quarter of businesses do not open again in the wake of an event, and it’s not always natural disasters that are to blame; sometimes the core issue can be a relatively minor disruption. Yet, studies show nearly half of the small businesses don’t have a business continuity plan—frequently because they overestimate their level of preparedness.

Business continuity plans: an investment in your future

Once you have a business continuity plan in place, the work doesn’t stop there. “It should be something that’s regularly tested and reviewed. “You should be scheduling regular business continuity tests and reviewing policies and procedures to make sure they’re still accurate and realistic,” says Powell, who notes that a review should take place at least annually.

It’s important to remember that investing time and energy into developing a business continuity plan is essentially making an investment in your business. The bills don’t stop coming when disaster strikes, so it’s up to you to put a plan in place that will ensure you reopen for business as quickly as possible. A swift return to operations can ensure your business rebounds from an event successfully.

Consider choosing an innovative technology partner who has products and solutions to support your business continuity plan

Choosing an IT partner like Locknet Managed IT who has your back in the event of a disaster is an essential component of shoring up your operations and ensuring business continuity. Because Locknet recognizes that each business has its own unique concerns and requirements, it has developed a range of recovery strategies from digital conversion and backup to a full disaster recovery solution in the cloud called Reinforce™ DR.  With Reinforce DR, Locknet can provide redundant and secure data backup with full failover disaster recovery and virtualization of systems and data in the cloud. 

What about paper-based data?  For businesses that continue to depend on paper-based archival systems such as storage boxes and filing cabinets, no problem!  Locknet, through its sister at EO Johnson Business Technologies, can digitally preserve your historical information by scanning and converting paper archives, microfiche, microfilm, and all types of wide-format documents into electronic data.  Together with Reinforce DR, you can have all of your business’s important information backed up and retained in the cloud.  More importantly, Locknet will have your environment up and running without missing a beat should a disaster strike!

Locknet works closely with businesses to help them develop, implement and support their disaster recovery plans. Contact us to learn more about how Locknet Managed IT can help customize a plan for you!

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