Hybrid Capability Is An Essential IT Operations Policy
Last month we got a phone call from a client who had received some bad news. They had just learned that they were not going to be able to stay in their office space and, to make matters worse, they had to be out in 72 hours. The people, computers, phones, servers, furniture, chairs, coffee mugs, all of it had to be somewhere else in three days.
It’s the sort of thing that no business owner wants to think about but, as anyone whose been in business for a while will tell you, it’s an almost certain eventuality if your operations include a physical space. Fires, floods, power outages (which is our home city of Austin’s go-to), building sales, whatever. Sooner or later it happens to almost everyone.
A low-cost management tool with multiple applications
Fortunately for our client, over the last few years we had helped them build a robust hybrid work environment that enabled the staff to work from home whenever they wanted to, so it wasn’t much of a jump to get the rest of their operations moved out of the old space. Over a three-day weekend, they managed to get all of their remaining physical systems up and running at a temporary location, and their staff has gone fully hybrid until a long-term solution can be found.
Business Continuity Planning Basics
For many small businesses, figuring out what it would take to build resiliency into their operations can be as simple as asking the question: “If there was no power at the office and I was locked out, could my business still operate?” If the answer is no, the next question is, why? In our client’s case, the why boiled down to one physical server that we had to move to a temporary location, which was a relatively easy problem to address. And while there are some businesses that would have to suspend operations if they lost access to their physical space, many others can put together a decent business continuity plan by making just a few important changes to how they operate.
Here are the areas most business owners need to think about when putting together a basic resliency “Plan B”:
- Hardware: Switching from desktop to laptop computers and moving to a cloud-based phone system can be solid choices to improve operational resiliency. If the cost of moving servers to the cloud is outside your budget, have a second location in mind that you can move your server to in an emergency.
- Software: Are you using shared software packages in the office? Thinking through how those tools will operate if you need to scatter your team is a good idea. Cloud-based applications are becoming the norm, so look for opportunities to make that switch.
- Connectivity & Collaboration: Tools like Slack and Teams can do a decent job keeping everyone connected in a remote environment, but not having everyone in the same physical space creates some real barriers to teamwork that you must address.
It’s also important to think through how you will keep all of your information safe when you disperse your team. Keeping files and computers safe is easier when everything is tucked behind a single firewall, but when you start having people connect from different home networks, the risk of something like a ransomware attack goes way up.
Simple Changes Now Can Save You Huge Headaches Later
Spending the time and money to make your office more resilient can seem unimportant. I mean, really, what are the odds that something bad will happen? The honest answer to that question for most businesses is that while it is unlikely to happen today, it is almost certain to happen at some point. A little bit of planning can go a long way toward keeping your business running when the next disruption occurs, and you may even sleep a little better at night knowing that you’ve done the necessary planning to keep your business running smoothly.
Need help putting together a plan? Schedule a free consultation with me and let’s talk about how to improve your business continuity plan.