The barriers to success have always been high, and they
are getting higher, writes Bharat Thakrar, head of business
continuity at BT Global Services.
Competition, regulation and other predictable challenges make
business tough enough, but at least they affect all companies
equally. What can really bring an organisation to its knees are the
unpredictable and highly selective 'acts of God and man' - floods,
pandemics, terrorist attacks - that have the potential to cripple a
business while leaving its competitors unscathed.
Both efficiency and customer focus are highly dependent on the
uninterrupted availability of computing and communications systems.
If your servers are down because of flooding, or key IT and call
centre staff can't get to work, your business can simply cease to
function.
So what can be done?
The obvious answer is 'be prepared' - think about what can go
wrong and how your business might respond. You also need to adopt
flexible working practices - not just because employees
increasingly expect them, but because they make your business much
more resilient to disruptive events, large and small.
The toolkit of flexible working technologies includes three
basic components: secure remote access to company systems, so that
staff can continue to work access to office phone lines, so that
staff continue to receive their calls and conferencing, so that
people can continue to meet.
Contrary to popular myth, accessing corporate networks from
outside the office doesn't have to mean an increased threat to key
systems and data. Provided users are authenticated and encryption
is used to prevent eavesdropping, then security is not an issue.
Using them, staff can access the IT systems they need to do their
jobs not just when they are in a company office, but from a host of
other locations - homes, hotels, temporary offices and so on.
Those IT systems and the networks that connect them must
themselves be resilient, of course. If the applications and
databases employees need exist only on computers in buildings
affected by problems that have forced them to find other places to
work, the option to connect remotely could be of very limited
use.
Much the same applies when it comes to maintaining access to
phone services. The significance of IP telephony for flexible
working is that it ends the fixed relationship between a line and a
phone number. Instead, users can make any phone their own simply by
logging in from any location that offers an IP connection to the
corporate network - another office within the corporate
headquarters, regional offices, wireless hotspots, or even
employees' homes.
Finally, although generally marketed as a means of saving on the
cost of business travel, audio, web and video conferencing really
come into their own when a disaster makes travel very much more
difficult. The classic examples are post 9/11, when US civil
flights were suspended, and after the 7/7 attacks in London, which
left many uncomfortable about using the tube.
The challenges of flexible working may sound daunting. But don't
be put off. Across the world, enterprises large and small have
demonstrated that flexible working is both good for business as
usual and an excellent form of disaster insurance. As a strategy
for business management, it's a true win-win option.