What You Need to Know About Business Continuity in the Face of COVID-19 Shutdowns

Business Continuity in the Face of COVID-19 Shutdowns

Companies across the world are suddenly scrambling to continue operations by providing employees with remote work options. Here’s what you need to know to stay secure in uncertain times.  

Once the shock wears off, business and technology leaders across the country are scrambling to ensure they can provide secure and consistent communication, work and collaboration options for their staff — many of whom are sheltering in place or working remotely from their homes. With businesspeople and students around the world moving into a new reality that often doesn’t allow individuals to gather in numbers greater than 10, the infrastructure of the entire nation is taking a beating. Ensuring that your customers can access their private information as well as providing crisis communications and triggering emergency technology solutions is becoming a more significant challenge, particularly for organizations that are not already using cloud-based storage and business applications or secure remote connections for their workforce.

Business Continuity in Uncertain Times

If you’re one of the lucky (and forward-thinking!) organizations that already had a business continuity plan in place, kudos are definitely in order! Millions of companies of all sizes are suddenly scrambling in an attempt to set up secure operations in the new reality we are facing for the foreseeable future. Only a few days ago, it seemed as though the COVID-19 threat would wash quickly through the country, requiring some adjustments but not fundamentally changing the way we do business for the next several months. In this evolving situation, it’s nearly impossible to predict what the future will hold which is causing organizations to need immediate assistance with setting up remote work options while still actively monitoring systems for security breaches, compliance risks and more.

Active Support for Remote Work

An extended shutdown of offices or working locations is dramatically different than a short-term inconvenience. You need to know that the decisions you’re making today won’t have a negative impact on long-term operations. Even telecommunications solutions are being tested, particularly for organizations that have not yet switched to a more flexible VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony solution. Maintaining communications is vital in a time of turmoil, making your telecommunications infrastructure, collaboration tools such as Office 365 and cloud-based data storage solutions integral to your company’s ability to thrive during difficult times. Directly communicating with your team can be difficult, particularly if you don’t have a consolidated database of employee information or are struggling to push messages between team members and customers promptly. Internal IT staff can quickly become overwhelmed, making it crucial to have a trusted IT services provider by your side to protect your organization against the unnecessary risk that can come with longer-term remote working arrangements.

Business Continuity With COVID-19

Having active support for remote workers could include everything from resetting simple passwords to defining the correct VPN protocols and distributing training solutions to your team. When you need rapid assistance under challenging circumstances, contact the professionals at Intelice Solutions at 310-664-6800 to schedule your free initial consultation. We can share details on how we’re helping similar organizations in the Metro DC area cope with remote work challenges while still retaining secure and efficient operations.