[Editor’s Note: AMTI, a Filipino-owned technology company, offers crisis-preparedness solutions to businesses. In their story below, they explain the importance of business continuity plans.]

When experts recognized that remote working due to the COVID-19 pandemic would continue for a longer time, companies sought to execute the alternative work setup efficiently. Several companies that implemented remote working extended the alternative work arrangement until today due to localized quarantine, health, and workplace protocols.

However, equipping a distributed workforce with a laptop and having an internet connection at home won’t suffice to keep the business running smoothly in a remote-work setup. In reality, the quickly upturned business landscape demonstrated the value of establishing a Business Continuity Plan (BCP). 

Business Continuity Plan in a nutshell

When a crisis occurs, such as a pandemic, it can make or break the company’s ability to operate. If back-up or continuity plans are not established by business leaders beforehand, it can severely impact employees, customers, partners, or the business itself. 

A BCP prevents any setbacks and alleviates the impact, malicious attacks, and downtime on business functions when a disruption occurs, such as a power outage, fire, natural disasters, or state emergency. It outlines the procedures and processes covering the workflow, workforce, assets, human resources, equipment, partners, and more when a business experiences a disruption. When strategically planned, businesses can quickly respond, be resilient, and operate business as usual.

To develop an effective business continuity plan, leaders must identify the goals, objectives, potential risks, and the core aspects and essential functions of a business that should remain operational during a crisis.

Starting from questions and analysis, do we have the right tools and IT infrastructure to back up and recover our business operations? Is having an alternative working arrangement applicable to the entire workforce? What equipment and resources can support the employees to resume their respective work and roles? From there, businesses can develop a continuity plan centered on these aspects.

Factors to consider in creating BCP

In every organization, employees are the most valuable assets. These people must know and understand the process of business continuity. After all, employees are the ones who execute and carry day-to-day business functions. They’re the enablers that can move one’s business forward and the ability to recover from a crisis. The management should consider them in strategic planning and their capabilities when remobilizing and onboarding them in a whole different way of working, at the same time, providing them with adequate equipment and guaranteed safety and job security.

Since a part of business continuity solutions is centered on mobilizing a remote workforce today, the efficiency of data centers and cloud adoption accelerated and became the critical component in implementing secured and flexible data access to business applications at any time and from any location.

It is the center that enables a virtual workplace and online communication, and it helps in maintaining business operations even in this new business landscape of a distributed workforce.

With almost every company driving more traffic in network and data access, it is also essential that businesses consider compliant and protected distributed data across the edge, core, and cloud.

AMTI, a Titanium Partner of Dell Technologies – a digital transformation enabler and one of the most diversified ICT companies in the Philippines –delivers IT infrastructure solutions that enable business continuity and strengthen the remote digital workforce. It addresses remote work challenges such as IT complexities, data protection, and critical workloads. AMTI also offers VeloCloud SD-WAN solution to efficiently, securely, and cost-effectively connect branches and distributed workforce to their data centers and other cloud resources (SaaS and IaaS), allowing for an uninterrupted, seamless, and secure work-from-home setup. 

As experts see it, COVID-19 might be here for a longer time, but so is technology. To keep pace with the modern and ever-evolving world and remain relevant, organizations must adapt and accept the change. The current circumstances taught us that the best approach to building a resilient and sustainable business is through preparedness and planned reinforcements.

AMTI, together with Dell Technologies, aims to help businesses that are experiencing operational and workforce challenges. They can help companies create their own business continuity plans through AMTI’s innovative solution offerings and consulting services.

Talk to AMTI today to help you start with your business continuity plan and analyze your workforce situation, along with your remote work readiness, to come up with recommendations and solutions tailored for your business.

Send your inquiries at https://amti.com.ph/contact-us/ or email them at inquiries@amti.com.ph. Follow AMTI on Facebook and LinkedIn for more technology updates. – Rappler.com