Better Safe Than Sorry
Many businesses are known to fail within the first five years of their inception. There can be many reasons for this – failed leadership, insufficient funding, non-scalability, etc. But one of the main reasons for the failure of small-medium sized enterprises is that they fail to prepare for the worst.
Disaster management is a very important objective in reality. Be it for a country or a company, a disaster does not come with an invitation, and when it comes, no one knows what it is going to destroy in its way. So, to endure the least possible loss during times like these, disaster management plays a key role.
Similarly, tech-based organisations that rely on a network (internet) for most of their revenues face a huge threat to business when a disaster occurs. Sometimes, it can be a hardware malfunction, software error, cyber-attack, or even a real-life natural calamity that can cause any online business to face downtime.
A downtime of even minutes can affect a large organization in millions of dollars, so, the question is, is there prevention for these kinds of disasters? Yes! Business continuity, or business IT continuity is the defense against such situations.
Despite knowing the worst possible outcomes of disasters, many companies still side line business continuity solutions. In this era of uncertainty and rapid chaos, it is only fair to be a little paranoid of the worst that can happen.
So, here are a ten reasons why business continuity is important.
1. To Reduce Downtime
One of the main reasons for having a business continuity plan is to minimize the overall downtime of the company. Downtime is something that haunts online businesses and can lead to major overall losses for the company. The more any business stays offline, the more revenue they lose.
Business continuity planning involves an analysis of all possible disasters that can occur and how the company can take measures beforehand to prevent major loss of data. Many companies have gone bankrupt during crises like these and have lost customers, funding, and a ton of revenue.
2. To Stay Ahead of Your Competitors
As mentioned earlier, almost 60% of businesses do not prepare for disasters and end up losing clients, revenue, and credibility during a critical time. Even though there is no definite possibility of any calamity ever happening, the company is bound to take losses in general.
Add to these losses the loss of data and sales during a downtime, then the situation of the company seems very bad. Here is where you can have the upper hand. Despite the generic losses you might face during a term, you will still be prepared and ready with backup during a critical time. So, you will always have the upper hand as compared to your ignorant competitors.
3. To Save What is Important
During a disaster or crisis, there is a very large possibility of data being lost. And once any data is lost in the oblivion of binary code, there is almost no way to recover it. One of the best things about business continuity is that it has a prominent disaster recovery system.
Business continuity solutions will analyze all the data and provide cloud backups and other backup devices to restore the most important data when the company faces a huge loss. So, this helps the company retain crucial accounts, documents, codes, and user data.
4. To Stay Credible
Credibility is everything in today’s world. Even though a company earns its revenue from somewhere, the more it is not liked by customers, the more credibility it loses. Imagine being in a situation where you might face a downtime due to a disaster or cyber-attack.
Clients and customers will be equally affected by this and will avoid your tech. To prevent a major boycott from happening, it is only logical to find a solution that helps build credibility while disaster recovery.
5. To Restart Operations
The first thing in the business continuity handbook is to restart all the operations as soon as the calamity strikes. This will involve dividing tasks and making some changes to the chain of command.
Since the company will be handicapped of certain functions during a time of disaster, the first and most important thing to do is to divide tasks and start operations as soon as possible.
6. Appeal to Investors
Even more than the CEO, investors are more concerned about online businesses staying active while they judge your ability to stay sustainable during a tough time. But once you get a business continuity plan and solutions, investors gain confidence and will be willing to invest accordingly to this cause. Once you prove to them that you can stay afloat even during the worst times, investors will feel secure and confident.
7. Better Communication
One of the biggest advantages of having a business IT continuity solution is to have a streamlined communication during the biggest time of chaos. Chain of command, delegation, task splitting, responsibility management, and other better communication methods can really do wonders to your business at the worst possible time as well.
8. A Minor Safety net
Having a business IT continuity plan in place is like having a safety net. You will know that even in the worst of times, your company will not plummet into the abyss of disaster while taking you with it. At least there is a system in play that can help you hang from a thread. Though business continuity solutions do more than just let you hang, they ensure maximum recovery from disaster and least loss in revenue due to downtime.
9. To get Better Insurance Coverage or Reduce Premiums
Insurance companies keep an eye out for responsible companies. Knowing very well that business continuity sort of takes a load off their services, many insurance companies prefer giving better insurance deals to companies that have a business continuity plan and solution. Insurance companies offer lower premiums and even give better coverage to organizations which seem responsible and careful.
10. Keeps the Staff Calm in Difficult Times
During a time of disaster, the employees are the ones that have the most pressure on them. They must do extra work and have to tackle the problem at hand. During times like these, the employees also worry if all this stress is worth it.
If the company goes downhill, they might lose their jobs, which is a new nightmare all together. But if they know there is a business continuity plan in the picture, they can ease up a bit and work even harder, knowing that the current disaster cannot take a worst turn.
To sum it up
Business continuity is a safety measure that should be taken by every company. It helps recover lost data, helps a company function with limited resources, and does not stop the inflow of revenue. At the end of the day, prevention is better than cure.
Are you ready?
Outsourcing IT support can free up time and money to allow your company to focus on what’s important. Experts at Yost Networks Solutions are standing by to help you begin outsourcing your IT needs, give us a call today!