Business continuity is essential for any company, and businesses will benefit from implementing a few simple strategies.

Empower the IT Team

The IT team is the backbone of any business. It’s their job to keep the company running smoothly and efficiently.

And if you want your business to keep running smoothly and efficiently, you must ensure that your IT team has all the tools they need for success.

That means empowering them with information about the business’s needs and goals so they can develop strategies for meeting them. And it also means ensuring they have enough support from people in other departments so they can focus on their work without worrying about things like payroll, human resources issues or HR complaints.

If you don’t, your IT team will feel under-resourced and overwhelmed. This leads to frustration and resentment among employees who feel ignored or left out of important decisions in favour of other departments. 

Maintain a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A VPN is a secure connection that allows you to access your network anywhere. It’s beneficial if you’re the CEO of a small business with multiple offices around the country. You can use a VPN to connect your office computers to the company’s central server and share files and resources securely. 

The VPN also encrypts all traffic, so if something goes wrong with one computer, it won’t affect other machines on the network.

Enable Secure Remote Access

Business continuity is about accessing your business from anywhere, but it’s also about ensuring that you can do so securely. Your users need to be able to access your applications and systems from any location on earth and any device. You’ll leave yourself vulnerable to potential threats if you cannot provide this.

The first step in providing secure remote access is enabling the appropriate connectivity options on your system. This will depend on the type of application and its requirements, but most designs are likely to have some kind of internet connectivity available. You may also want to consider adding a secondary connection if one fails or gets blocked by an attacker.

Employ Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-factor authentication is a must for companies, especially businesses that offer sensitive data. Multi-factor authentication uses two or more methods to gain a system’s access. The most common method is something you know (e.g., password) and something you have (e.g., phone). Using something you are is also possible (e.g., fingerprint).

The benefits of multi-factor authentication are many:

1. It makes it harder for hackers to take over your account if they get hold of your credentials or if they manage to steal them from somewhere on your computer or device.
2. It reduces the risk of a data breach because only authorized users can access sensitive data while logged in to the system.
3. It protects against phishing attacks, where attackers trick people into divulging their credentials by impersonating legitimate services or even pretending to be the victim themselves!

Use Cloud Solutions to Maintain Connectivity and Productivity

Cloud solutions can help you maintain connectivity and productivity even when the power is out.

Your business doesn’t have to worry about infrastructure or hardware maintenance with a cloud solution. 

If there’s a problem with your network connection, it doesn’t matter because the cloud lets your employees access their files from anywhere in the world. And if there’s a problem with your computer or device, the cloud automatically lets you download the latest software updates and patches. You don’t have to wait for IT professionals to fix it — all you have to do is click “Update Now!”

Cloud solutions are also great for remote workers who need access to their company files from home or while travelling. A mobile application that allows you to access files from anywhere in the world is perfect for people who work from home or travel frequently, allowing them to continue working even if they can’t access their office computers.

Utilize Unified Communications

A business continuity plan that does not include unified communications is like a car without a steering wheel. It’s just not going to work.

Unified communications (UC) links different networks and systems into one network, allowing users to communicate with their internal and external business partners while operating in real-time. 

This means that an employee working on an issue with one system can continue communicating with others while working on the problem. This results in increased productivity and better customer service.

To make this work, you need an integrated communication solution that you can access from any device. This can include Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams or Slack for Business.

Set up a Work-From-Home Policy and Procedure

The most critical aspect of business continuity is planning the day the business closes its doors. By having a plan, you can notify and prepare them, knowing what to do to ensure their safety and that of their families. The best way to ensure this is by setting up a policy and procedure for working from home during an emergency.

Employees should log into their company computer system and check in with their supervisor or manager. This will let them know what they are doing and why they are doing it so that no one remains in the dark about any changes or developments regarding their projects or assignments. 

Suppose there are unforeseen circumstances, such as natural disasters or similar emergencies. In that case, employees should immediately contact their supervisor or manager to determine whether any changes are required to continue working from home on an emergency basis.

Ensure your Employees are Covered

It’s not just about your business. It’s about the people who work for you and what happens if their health care or income gets interrupted.

Employees can become critical to your business continuity plan because they may need to continue working when normal operations cease. For example, if there is a fire at your office building, employees will likely have to evacuate and return once the blaze is out. 

Companies must ensure their employees have cover during a disaster and have insurance to be reimbursed for lost wages or medical expenses if needed.

Develop an Incident Management Plan

You need to create an incident management plan. This will ensure that you have an effective method of handling any issues that arise during the day-to-day running of your business.

To develop this plan, you will need to identify what events could affect your business and how these could impact the operation of your company. You can do this by asking yourself questions such as:

• What are the most common problems we encounter?
• How do these problems affect our business?
• What steps do we take when something goes wrong?

Once you have identified these types of issues, you will then be able to develop an incident management plan that can help you deal with any problems that may occur in the future.

Ensure Your Business Is Growing and on Standby!

This way, you will be able to keep your business running at full speed without having to break a sweat. Make sure you take care of these things, and your company will always run smoothly.

The post 9 Strategies That Will Guarantee Business Continuity appeared first on Continuity Compliance.

Such activity provides understanding and acceptance of potential threats, as well as their consequences and sources, identifies vulnerabilities of the company and allows finding possible options to avoid or eliminate such threats or consequences.

The risk assessment is a basis for further development of the business continuity strategy and optimal scenarios of its implementation.

4. Company strategy development.

Strategies will include model scenarios, the consequences of which negatively affect the company, block or limit its activities. Typically, these scenarios cover issues of inaccessibility of premises, personnel, limited use or loss of IT resources, etc. Scenarios provide an objective view of the company’s operations, prioritizing areas/processes, minimum resources needed for recovery, and measures to minimize the risks of such scenarios.

5. Development and implementation of business continuity plans.

The plans are a clearly defined list of actions and responsible parties that ensure the emergency recovery and, if possible, the normal functioning of the company after an incident/crisis/disaster. International best practices identify three elements for creating an effective and efficient plan – response, incident/crisis management and business recovery.

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a methodology that defines and describes model business continuity plans, emphasizing that the plans should not just provide technical solutions, but should contain a clear organizational model for behavior in crisis situations.

6. Plan testing and training.

Testing and training are indispensable elements of the continuity process, because awareness, awareness and practice of the plans help to avoid certain mistakes during the crisis and, in a certain way, to minimize the recovery time of the company.

7. Updating the plans.

Updating is done on a regular basis, also in cases of changes in structure, technical conditions or requirements, legislation, the identification of vulnerabilities during testing.

Considering the above, business continuity is quickly becoming an important and integral element of any company. Therefore, it is worth emphasizing a few basic points that define the development of this activity, as well as its important elements.

Business continuity is a set of predetermined actions that a company applies to prevent and respond to threats. This process ensures the company’s ability to continuously provide services, minimize the impact of crisis situations on its activities and reduce the possible losses from these situations.

Business Continuity is a complex mechanism, the operation of which requires the application of not only organizational, but also technical measures. In any case, the issue of continuity is global. That is, protection is required for the company as a whole, but not for a separate element. Modern approaches and solutions can not only ensure the continuity of IT resources, but also provide an opportunity, albeit sometimes limited, for the operation of the company, protection of personnel and access to necessary resources.

It is indisputable that when forming the continuity process, one of the key elements is the issue of information security, in particular the resources used by the business (data, hardware and software complexes, appropriate personnel).

Defining only the technical means will not ensure the proper functioning of business continuity process. Moreover, it is required to define critical business processes which will be restored by technical means, the impact on business, risk analysis and, directly, the formation of business continuity process itself.

Almost every stage of continuity is implemented thanks to the staff and employees of the company. That is, the presence of qualified, trained employees is the key to effective implementation of business continuity plans. And training and informing the personnel about the measures and actions to restore functioning should become an integral element of the company’s daily work.

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Today, almost all market players strive to automate business processes as much as possible and to reduce the human impact on their implementation. On the one hand, this is a positive aspiration. However, on the other hand – given the increasing number and complexity of cyberattacks – automation becomes the most vulnerable element of the company, which can significantly halt or paralyze its activities.

The research indicates that less than 30% of the rated companies allocate financial resources to the development and implementation of business continuity management processes. The low level of companies’ interest in allocating a separate process and investing in its development may be caused by difficulties in understanding technical processes. Plus the rather high cost of IT products, which will ensure the implementation of an automated business continuity process for the company.

One of the basic international standards for business continuity management is ISO 22301, whose main objective is to guide a company in finding an effective approach to minimizing the consequences caused by the risks and threats to which it is exposed.

According to ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management is a comprehensive management process, which identifies potential threats to the company and their impact on the functioning of business processes, and defines the basis for an effective system capable of containing and counteracting such threats.

The business continuity management process itself is very simple schematically. However, it contains many elements and key issues that must be taken into account when developing a continuity system for a particular company.

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