Ensuring Business Continuity: Strategies, Challenges, and the Road Ahead in Covid-19 era.

Building a remote team to tackle the business challenges posed by the pandemic

Martha Karkosik

Last updated on June 17, 2020 | 9 min read

Business

In an increasingly interconnected global economy, business continuity has become a pivotal concern for organizations across industries. As recent events have demonstrated, from natural disasters to pandemics to cyberattacks, unexpected disruptions can significantly impede operations, lead to financial losses, and tarnish reputations. This underscores the need for a robust business continuity plan (BCP).

What is Business Continuity?

Business continuity refers to the processes, procedures, decisions, and activities that an organization puts in place to ensure that its essential functions can continue during and after a disruption or adverse event. Its primary aim is to protect personnel and assets and ensure they can function quickly when faced with challenges like natural disasters, cyberattacks, pandemics, or any other unexpected events.

A well-designed Business Continuity Plan (BCP) outlines the steps an organization will take to recover from various events, identifies potential risks, and provides stakeholders with a clear plan to mitigate those risks. Regular testing and updating of the BCP ensure that the organization remains prepared for unforeseen events.

Key Components of a Business Continuity Plan

Risk Assessment: Identify potential threats and assess the likely impact on business operations. This includes everything from natural disasters to IT failures.

• Business Impact Analysis (BIA): Analyze the potential consequences of an interruption. Which processes are most critical? How much downtime can your business tolerate?
• Recovery Strategies: Formulate plans to restore operations, ranging from data recovery to securing temporary physical locations.
• Training and Testing: Regularly test the BCP and train employees on their roles during a disruption.
• Communication Plan: Ensure all stakeholders, from employees to suppliers to clients, are informed during an event.

Modern Challenges in Business Continuity

The digital age brings new challenges:

• Cybersecurity Threats: Ransomware attacks, data breaches, and other cyber threats are on the rise.
• Interconnected Supply Chains: A single disruption can have a domino effect on global operations.
• Regulatory Changes: As the regulatory landscape evolves, businesses must adapt to avoid penalties.
• Pandemic Preparedness: COVID-19 showcased the need for flexibility, remote work solutions, and health safety protocols.

Case Study: The role of remote work in Business Continuity at DevsData.

For the last 5 years, we have been building a remote organization at DevsData, with the aim of facilitating work from home for our staff and being able to undertake projects for clients all over the world.

It was always imperative that we set everything up for being remote. We are lucky in that we have all the tools and processes that we need already in place to enable full remote work and complete continuity of service to our clients. As a result, we were able to maintain ‘business as usual’. To help out the community at large we have decided to share the knowledge and started doing free pro-bono consultations to any companies that are struggling with their remote work setup or are looking to make their own even better.

We are lucky that most of our staff live in Poland, which was infected late and the government closed down schools, borders, and all big events and shops before the number of cases reached 50. So our estimation is that we will be less affected by the virus than other parts of the world. Many of our clients have learned to rely on us over the years, so it is important for us, that in these uncertain times, we maintain this trust and keep our services from being interrupted.

We have spent the last few working days preparing contingency plans for all kinds of situations that may arise globally, both to keep our staff safe and to ensure that the company is ready for all possible scenarios – regardless of whether the spike in business will be an upward or a downward one.

We are in constant communication with all of our clients to get through this difficult situation together. That way we can monitor their changing needs, and together combat any problems that may arise. Our ultimate goal is to continue delivering a high quality service to them, especially as we are seeing increased demand in some areas of our work. 

I’m holding the words of Mr. Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO at the back of my mind when he said that this is ‘the first pandemic in history that could be controlled.’ While none of us can predict how long it will last, we can support each other in areas where we have experience or strength.

Visit our Home Page or get in touch with us on general@devsdata.com – if you need support in setting up remote work or getting help with developing your digital products.

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