The situation with Coronavirus is changing quickly and it could have an impact on you personally or professionally in near future. How can you prepare your office and your team from a technology perspective? Here is a quick list for your review:
Review your business continuity and disaster recovery plans – if your company does not have one, this is a great time to draft one. A BCDR plan or policy outlines the risks to your business, the likelihood of those risks, and how you would address those risks. It contains strategies for operating under an unplanned disruption of service. If you do not have a BCDR plan in place, email info at hybridge.com and we can help you put one together.
Remote work strategy - who are the people that can effectively work remotely? If your office needs to be closed for 2 weeks, what resources will people need to access? How will they access them? If you are not fully Cloud already do you have VPN connections to onsite resources? Does your phone system allow for access/use of your business phone lines from anywhere? Do staff have headsets for their softphones? If you do not have the answers to these questions, this is the time to ask. Our recent blog post about Business on the Go discussed this.
Company contact list - is it up to date? Do you have everyone’s cell and home phone numbers? How can you get messages to your staff urgently if email is not available if, for example, you need to tell everyone to stay home on Monday morning?
Collaboration tools – do you have a video conferencing solution in place that will allow your team to work together remotely? Is it big enough to accommodate your entire team? How about team chat (Hangouts, Slack, Symphony, etc.)?
Work computers at home – if your employees don’t have laptops, how will they work from home? This is a good time to consider getting company issued laptops or tablets for remote work. Don’t compromise your company’s security by letting users work on home computers that bypass company security tools and policies.
Technology availability with enterprise supply lines compromised across the board, we are starting to see shortages on technology items. Review your critical technology purchases for 2020 and consider expediting them if possible.
Communication – start having a discussion with your staff now about your plan for business continuity, especially in the event of an office closure. The discussion should address a 2-3 week closure of the office which hopefully is a worst case scenario.
Phishing - yes, the bad guys are already making the rounds with coronavirus phishing messages. Remember never to click on links or open attachments from unknown sources and to verify the sender’s identity especially when receiving unusual requests from a boss or colleague.
While we hope for the best, you need to always be prepared for the worst.
If you need help with any of the above items, please reach out to us, we are here to help. Our platform leverages the best the cloud has to offer and, in this way, we have enabled you and your business to operate from anywhere. If you are unsure of the resources available, or if you are not already our client, reach out to info at hybridge.com for additional information.
