Expertise across the technology migration lifecycle
The business continuity (BC) planning process is individual to every organization; however, the importance of having a plan is universal. The investment made in terms of time, effort, and money during the business continuity planning process can pay big dividends, especially in the face of unforeseen events.
Plan in advance. Developing a plan in the midst of a crisis is a recipe for disaster. Anticipate potential problems and have a well-documented, comprehensive plan to address both disaster recovery and continuity of essential business processes.
Assess your risk. Organizations should assess both networks and business models to determine risks as well as operational and financial exposures. Coordinated network and continuity planning are essential. Base decisions on the principles of risk management. Identify critical business functions and processes and deploy assets to help maintain seamless operations.
Partner with the best. Select business partners whose resources are readily available for rapid deployment to assist in recovery and continuity efforts.
Protect critical networks, systems, and applications. Inventory critical equipment and applications and assess any vulnerability. Determine the best location for these services to help reduce the risk of catastrophic outages and improve recovery response times. Alternatives range from physical relocation of equipment to outsourcing.
Deploy networks engineered to meet your changing business requirements. Develop and implement cost-effective networks that meet bandwidth requirements for continuous operations while delivering a return on investment.
Build redundancy to support critical operations. A combination of diverse network routing and the ability to duplicate mission-critical applications is essential to communications and the continuity of business operations.
Use network-based services. Network-based services enable rapid service restoration. The ability to quickly switch service from a disabled location to alternative functioning sites can have a positive impact on overall business continuity.
Maintain worker productivity - virtually anytime, anywhere. Applications such as remote access, alert notification services, and conferencing help to improve recovery time and can protect employees in extreme circumstances. Multi-modal communications are essential to helping ensure organizations can reach and stay connected to key stakeholders.
Train and educate your employees. An organization is only as good as its people. Design an effective, distributed-work business model and ensure employees have the training and tools to do their jobs – either in the office, on the road, or at home. Perform skills-set assessments to understand staffing requirements necessary to support continuous operations.
Review, test, and refresh - continuously. Once a plan has been developed, it must be reviewed, tested, and refreshed. A business continuity plan is a living document and a critical business asset. Plans should be updated and tested routinely throughout the year.
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