Don’t Make These Business Continuity Mistakes

The growing complexity of IT environments in addition to increasing cloud adoption and added pressure on IT budgets has many enterprises turning to outsourced solutions. While many offer a one-stop-shop type of service for areas such as infrastructure and software, that doesn’t remove the responsibility from the enterprise to ensure the managed service provider is meeting their needs. This is particularly evident in the area of business continuity.

The pressure to have a detailed, routinely rehearsed business continuity plan in place to protect against a cyber security breach or a hurricane leads many enterprises to seek out a managed service provider to handle this area. The temptation might be to check that area off your list once you’ve handed it over to a provider, but, in order to choose the right provider and retain oversight for this important area, consider these elements of business continuity:

Is the Provider’s Offering Broad Enough for Your Business Continuity Needs?

Maybe they’ve covered the backups, supporting infrastructure, and keeping your phones operational, but there’s more to consider. Be sure to discuss areas such as physical security and access control, as well as customer service aspects like order fulfillment.

Consider Compliance and Regulations

If you’re in an industry such as health care, finance, or law, you may need to choose a provider based on the compliance support they offer. If you’re a global enterprise, you may also need to comply with the rules of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from the European Union.

Implement Personnel Strategies for Comprehensive Business Continuity

Choose a provider that is proactive about readying your staff for responding to a disaster. Extensive training and practice of plan execution are important elements of a complete business continuity plan. You can also address buy-in, so you have a clear picture of how they will ensure that everyone, from the top down, is on board with the plan.

Regular Updates Ensure the Plan Continues to Be Relevant and Effective

Do you have plans to hire more remote employees? Maybe you’ve determined that, in the next year, you will focus on investments in smart monitoring devices on your equipment. Or perhaps you’ve initiated some cloud migration projects with deadlines spanning the next two years. These are the types of changes that can render a business continuity plan irrelevant if continual updates are not in place. Find out what your provider’s plan is for keeping your business continuity strategy current in light of changing technology investments.

Consider How Proactive the Provider Is for Changes in the Future.

Is your provider actively looking for new ways to protect your business? For instance, do they bring up topics such as optimizing to minimize loss, the protection of assets like equipment and tools, or controlling costs? A proactive business continuity plan does more than simply check the boxes.

At Net Tel One Communications, we can help you leverage the best business continuity solutions for an optimized, proactive plan to protect your enterprise. Contact us to get started.

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