Assuring Business Continuity in 2023 & Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the way companies run their usual business processes. Business owners have been pushed to be more resourceful and to find new ways to thrive or at least stay afloat. According to a business continuity survey by Gartner, only 12% of 1,500 organizations surveyed believe that they are highly prepared for the effects of the coronavirus. This only goes to show that most organizations do not value the importance of risk management.

Business owners looking to continue normal operations you should see to it that they have measures in place to safeguard processes from unforeseen crises. To help you set up your business continuity measures, here are some recommendations on how you can manage risks brought about by possible business interruptions such as a pandemic.

1. Decide to plan for risks

Your ability to swiftly mitigate the impact of business risks can help you ensure business continuity. To make sure that your company remains operational even when these risks emerge, it’s best to have a risk management function in place. With a risk management approach, you can effectively gain high-quality risk insights laid out in detailed and well-written reports. This will help you position your company better and diminish the possibility of any major business disruption.

2. Prepare by identifying important processes

You also need to identify the processes that should be prioritized if a crisis hits your business. Set up a command center composed of a virtual workforce, focusing on tasks that involve productivity, quality, and compliance monitoring as well as business intelligence, workforce management, and employee well-being initiatives. This way, if any market disruptions occur, you still have a skeletal team that can help keep your business in operation.

3. Be proactive and customer oriented

In everything that you do in your business, keep in mind that your customers’ satisfaction should be a part of your priorities. See to it that you have a sustainable solution to providing customer support, especially during a crisis. To do this, work with a team of people who can consistently commit to customers’ needs. You can also look into outsourcing customer support to help ensure that customer service is available around the clock. This can also help you better manage the costs.

4. Allow employees to work-from-home

In case a pandemic-like situation arises, the best workplace for your employees will be their own homes. This is why it’s never too early to give them the option to work from home occasionally. This will help you confirm they have the set up and access should the need strike. If a health and safety issue hampers your office operations, the work-from-home option can help you stick to your usual business operations as much as possible.

5. Set up clear communication channels

Managing your team’s communication effectively is key to improving your chances of success. It’s important to keep information moving with the right resources. If this aspect of your business is not handled properly, it can affect your performance and make it more difficult for your team to be efficient or effective during a crisis. See to it that your employees are aware of your communication channels and understand how to communicate specific concerns and issues that they might encounter. Clear, effective team communication will enhance your team development, improve your means of communication with stakeholders and customers, and save you time and resources.

6. Strengthen employee support systems

Your manpower is one of the most important resources in your business. To get your business operations going, even during a crisis, you should look after your team’s overall welfare so that they can continue handling their respective tasks. With a strong support system for your employees, you can contribute to your employees’ happiness and health. This can boost your employee retention rate and eliminate any operation disruptions that may arise from a loss of team morale.

7. Establish an agile team

To build a highly productive and agile team, it’s important that you start by providing work conditions that foster effective and quality performance. Start by establishing dedicated team members who attend to one task and nothing more. This can help improve their focus and boost their productivity. Transparency of tasks and their progress can also help boost your team’s agility. Setting up a clear team process will also make it easy for your team to take the right action, especially when problems arise.

8. Set up diverse service models

A great way for you to improve your business continuity approach is by setting up diverse service models. With a diversity of team members, you won’t have to worry about discontinuing your operations in the event of a crisis. Consider outsourcing select services or functions to avoid total stoppage of your business. By working with a reliable outsourcing company, you can also get more work done for a fraction of the cost of working with in-house employees. Through outsourcing, you can optimize the use of your funds and resources, helping your business stay strong even through a crisis.

If you are considering outsourcing some of your business operations but don’t know how to proceed, talk to us here at Assivo. We can provide you with a comprehensive guidance to help you understand what you can expect by choosing to outsource.