Is your company ready for the next pandemic or major unexpected event? They come in with a fury and change our world. As I reflect on the last 18 months, we see many businesses that have gone by the wayside, while others have thrived. I cannot help but ponder the question of “How could some companies thrive while others withered away?” I personally saw two businesses with similar business models, customer base, and demographics, but they had two very different outcomes over the past year.

I recognize that there could be hundreds of factors that lead to a company closing its doors. But to me, there is one trend that can be seen that stands out from the rest. Call it adaptability, or continuity; whatever you want to call it. It’s taking the situation and knowing how to move forward in the face of something really bad and unexpected happening. Business continuity, by definition, is about having a plan to deal with difficult situations. This allows your business to continue to function with as little disruption as possible.

In technology, there is a difference between disaster recovery and business continuity. While there are some overlapping situations, a business continuity plan looks at how to deal with unexpected situations. It’s designed to ask questions like these:

• What does the company do if several members of the key staff leave unannounced all at once?
• What happens when your entire workforce is isolated?
• What do you do when you get a phone call in the evening from a reporter that your company has been blamed for a data leak?

For most companies, a detailed step-by-step plan for every possible risk to the business is not realistic. However, planning for unexpected events, even if not all of them, leads to minimal disruptions to your business when bad things happen.

There is an old quote from Benjamin Franklin “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” He’s right. If you prepare for the unexpected, you are far more likely to survive it.

One of the lesser-known services that OPG offers is consulting to organizations to assist in the development of proper business continuity (and disaster recovery) plans. If you would like assistance with building your business continuity plan for your technology stack, OPG can help. We can provide guidance, share samples, and even work with you to draft the formal documentation. Within our managed web services program, we offer services to help you draft your Information Security, Disaster Recovery, and Business Continuity Plans. We can proctor tabletop exercises and even perform a business impact analysis, which often exposes areas that might need formal continuity plans, and much more.

If you have questions or want to learn more, please contact your account manager or talk to us.