Is your business resilient? Do you have the right foundations in place to ensure resilience in your day-to-day business operations?
From being strong, yet flexible, enduring and determined, the word ‘resilient’ has a variety of meanings. And when it comes to building a modern-day business that is resilient, all of these elements must come into play.
However, while those traits are integral to all aspects of the day-to-day business operations, much of the focus of resilience rests on technology. That’s because most of what we do in our businesses today is about data – our customers and our own – and the need for that to remain secure and functional is critical, even if the worst case scenario should happen.
Below we cover off the key fundamentals required for establishing technological resilience in your business in 2023.
Why is it important for a business to be technologically resilient?
If the last three years have taught those in business anything, it’s that nothing is certain and everything can change very quickly.
From the sudden need for employees to work remotely, to the increase of cyber attacks, and a variety of nature-related events disrupting businesses globally, operating a business has become about expecting the unexpected. Which is why resilience, when it comes to technology, is about putting in place the right systems for high-quality daily operations, as well as strategies for business continuity and recovery assurance.
Your business must be reliable, adaptable and quick to recover, otherwise you risk being outperformed by competitors and unable to adequately serve your customers.
What is a technologically resilient business?
A technologically resilient business is multifaceted, and while there are a number of components to achieve resilience, we see them covered across three essential principles. And to ensure your business is able to remain dynamic and robust in the face of cyber attacks, natural disasters and anything else thrown its way, it is vital you cover all three:
- A resilient business stays connected
There’s nothing like poor connectivity or the lack of a managed network to interrupt your business and negatively impact productivity, which is why connection in a business must always be optimised, no matter where your employees are.
This must include things such as seamless internet access, managed networking, voice solutions, colocation capabilities, fast connectivity and services you can trust to deliver onsite, offsite and remote mobility.
- A resilient business protects its assets and people
Uncertainty in data recoverability puts your business’s data assets at risk, which will not only hurt your bottom line, but your ability to guarantee business continuity – not to mention your reputation.
Which is why minimising network outages and disruptions is absolutely crucial for reducing associated costs and improving your overall service to internal and external customers. You want to know that when the worst happens, your data is tested and secure.
This must include things such as backup services, recovery assurance, disaster recovery and security solutions.
- A resilient business enables superior functionality
Most modern businesses are operational 24/7, which means it’s imperative that your systems are always available – and secure. You also want information management, processing and retrieval to be scalable and responsive, and it’s essential that it’s flexible to meet your changing needs as a business.
This must include things such high-speed data centres, hybrid Cloud-based services, dedicated and tailored managed hosting, and SIP-based VoIP communication.
Bonus tip: 5 steps to planning for technology resilience in your business
Going to set your business up for greater resilience over the next 12 months? Ensure your strategy encompasses the following five steps:
- Awareness This should cover off what your technology requirements are to be operational, what would happen if they went offline, and how quickly you would be able to recover them (if you could at all).
- Preparedness This is about having plans in place to ensure that if your system was disrupted, you would be able to take the necessary actions to remedy the issue and move forward.
- Protection Your business must be protected from all potential threats – identify these risks and mitigate them.
- Recovery If your business is disrupted, how quickly can you return to business-as-usual?
- Review Any time a data breach or disruption occurs, it is vitally important to review what happened, how it happened, and if there is anything you can do to stop it happening again.
We hope the above information has given you a basic understanding, as well as a starting point, for developing your business resilience strategy in 2023.
To build a business that is technologically resilient requires a partnership with a provider who not only has the capabilities to cater to the unique needs of your business, but who also has the experience and knowledge to understand the complexities of resilience – and of course, the ability to implement the right systems and structures.
If you’re keen to know whether your business has the best possible technology in place to guarantee resilience, we’d like to invite you to request a comprehensive review with our team. Here at Plan B we strive to work alongside organisations who want to achieve growth, while establishing sustainability of their overall technology operations.