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October 30, 2020
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CEO and co-founder
Work from home during a crisis can be hard but remote business continuity techniques ensure that the company can move forward and tackle the hardships of the crisis with as little loss as possible.
Almost all businesses and companies have a business continuity plan that can help them deal with unprecedented situations. Since the CoronaVirus pandemic, companies are now moving towards remote working. Therefore, business continuity plan work from home is the need of the hour to ensure business operations can be regulated and goals can met so the company can stay afloat. Work from home during a crisis can be hard but remote business continuity techniques ensure that the company can move forward and tackle the hardships of the crisis with as little loss as possible. From managing business resources to taking measures to be able to achieve short term and long term goals, everything is taken into consideration when writing a comprehensive remote work business model. In a nutshell, a business continuity model helps businesses continue operation no matter how many hardships come along the way.
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, companies have now been forced to work from home and adapt to remote working techniques. During this transition from offices to home, business continuity was one of the major concerns for all companies and businesses.
Although remote working is something that was mainly considered an experiment in the past and not many people opted to work from home, given the current scenario, it has become a necessity and one can rightfully assume that it is indeed the “new normal”. Since this entire shift was urgent and not pre-planned, many companies had to come up with an emergency remote work plan. According to an estimate, one in three companies and businesses have a remote work business model, which makes it obvious why companies and their employees are finding this move challenging and difficult.
We have been hearing so many things about remote working checklist and manuals about how to ensure productivity, goal management and communication when working on a remote basis. But what the companies and businesses really need to be looking at given the current situation is a way to ensure Business Continuity with Remote Access.
As inferred by the name, a business continuity plan is simply putting in place systems and protocols that can help the business move forward in the times of crisis. In a nutshell, it is simply a disaster management manual that helps mitigate losses and ensure that the business can continue striving even in disasters. It is a comprehensive manual that covers business resources, processes, goals and future plans etc.
What is the main goal of a business? Making sure it remains on top of the competition in the market by retaining existing customers and working to increase the customer base by reaching out to potential customers. Through local business continuity techniques this can be made possible even if the business hits rock bottom and is facing a severe condition such as the CoronaVirus pandemic.
Writing A Business Continuity Plan For Remote Work:
Having a business continuity remote working plan in place is crucial to ensure that the business can continue its operations successfully even if the employees are working from their homes. Since remote working is a practice that is fairly new to most employees and businesses, it is important to develop a business continuity plan for remote workers so the business can be stirred in the right direction. Here is how one can write a business continuity plan if everyone will be working remotely:
The first thing to determine when planning business continuity is the scope of the plan. What is the time period for which the planning has to be done? How long will the plan be needed for? What is the duration for which the planning needs to be done? These are some things that need to be taken into consideration when writing a business continuity plan work from home.
The next step is to identify the key business areas. How many sections or departments can the business be split into? Once you identify the key business areas, the next goal should be setting aims and objectives for each of these departments. What should be the high priority tasks and which areas can wait for some time should be identified so the necessary actions can be taken accordingly.
A business or a company is a functional unit that comprises many departments coming together. Since everyone will be working from home and the collaboration in real time will not be possible, notice the inter dependencies of the different units of the company. Based on these dependencies and the extent of collaboration, set a plan that helps them communicate with one another and collaborate in a remote working setting.
Setting goals is an integral component of business continuity planning steps for remote working. This helps identify the utmost priorities and also lays a foundation for the work plan for the business. When setting goals, keep both short term as well as long term goals in mind. When working remotely, the goals also need to be flexible that can be changed as needed and adapt to the needs of the business.
As a business owner, you can never be sure whether your remote business continuity techniques are truly working or not. The planning phase of the continuity plan is only theoretical in nature. Therefore, it has to be put into action to be able to assess its efficiency and highlight the loopholes. When you practically implement the business continuity plan, make sure that you analyze the work from home insights on a regular basis. This will help you identify the areas that need improvement and also shed light on the aspects that are doing well so the further planning and goal setting can be done in an efficient manner.
Significance Of Remote Work For Business Continuity:
As discussed before, remote working practices have never been adopted before. Therefore, when the entire world was forced to practice isolation and move from working at an office to working from their homes, this came as a hurdle. This difficult transition paired with the overall anxiety and stress associated with the CoronaVirus pandemic has made things a lot harder.
Therefore, both the employees and the employers need support. There is an air of uncertainty surrounding our lives. During this situation, it is hard to hussle and move forward. To ensure that the employees can work well and the business too can survive this tough time, it is very important to lay a concrete plan that can help the businesses identify the critical areas and important goals that need to be prioritized. A business continuity plan also helps utilize and deploy business resources in an efficient manner.
One of the biggest challenges associated with working on a remote basis is ensuring productivity and engagement. This problem is solved when a continuity plan is compiled. The plan lists down all the aims, goals and objectives clearly. As a result, all the members of the team are aware of what needs to be done and can plan their tasks in accordance with the intended targets.
Overcoming Challenges Related To Remote Work:
Many businesses and companies are complaining about being unable to find their way around remote working practices. Both the employees as well as the employers are facing difficulties. The biggest aid that can help bridge the gaps between colleagues is ensuring regular and efficient communication. Make use of virtual collaboration and meeting platforms that can help the co-workers meet and share ideas in a virtual setting.
The use of IT Support and IT services can also prove valuable in this regard. From time management to collaboration and feedback, there are plenty of tasks that can be automated and divided efficiently through the use of IT Services. IT Support not only makes things easier for the employers and employees but also shares their workload so they can dedicate their attention and energies to working on more important things.
Being empathetic and offering support is also very important. Make sure that you stay in touch with your employees. Ask them how they feel and whether they need any type of help or support. Open all means of communication so your employees can always contact you and connect with you as needed.
Conclusion:
If you are wondering and worried about how to ensure business continuity when working on a remote basis, worry no more. The first thing you need to do is to prioritize the goals and objectives of your business and then list down a business continuity plan. Take some time, analyze the needs of your business and the targets that you wish to accomplish in both the short term as well as the long term time period. However, when working on a business continuity plan make sure that you don’t set rigid expectations. The plan should be adaptable and flexible enough to change as the situation demands.
