As the owner of an IT company, I recognize the integral part IT services have in keeping businesses running. Companies are panicking. Businesses, corporations to boutique in all industries, have folded, furloughed, and fired. And, business professionals are distancing themselves: from their offices, co-workers, and clients.
My past few weeks have been spent on the phone with owners or executives, planning for business continuity and aiding businesses to have remote access to the systems needed day-to-day.
Since I’m spending so much time on this topic, it only makes sense to write an article that will help others plan for business continuity.
A business continuity plan is essential to provide maximum transparency to your employees and clients. Your plan should include a memorandum and agenda clearly outlining new standard-operating-procedures.
More than ever, your IT partners need to be integrated with your business practices to properly advise, train, equip, secure, and support all staff for essential remote resources and infrastructure.
Our partners want to know: is this doable? Is it possible to swiftly create a virtual environment where both staff and clients feel valued and served? The answer is yes, with proper preparation and implementation. With all the cloud systems available, we have never been more prepared to work remotely.
IT Services Planning
Identifying all the IT services used by the business is a great place to start. Try to categorize the services based on their level of importance to the business. Roles and responsibilities are also key in planning as these decisions should never be made by one person. It is important to pull in the right people who work with the IT services on a day-to-day basis. Don’t make assumptions. Working remotely for businesses that have never done so is a big transition.
After your team has assembled and identified the critical IT services, it’s time to dig into each service and discuss what the options are for accessing them remotely. Below are examples of common critical services along with some thoughts and questions when preparing each IT service to function remotely.
