Contingency for when things go wrong, do you think about your Plan B?
Having a Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Plan sounds like something for companies to do and you’d be absolutely correct. It’s important that ALL employees know what to do as it may come down to one individual and it’s vital they know what to do to keep operations moving
It may be as basic as knowing contact details for IT support and other assistance processes and making sure they are documented and circulated (and understood).
However, with the events that took place for O2 customers last week it is important everyone thinks about their own ‘personal contingency plan’ for when things go wrong or the unexpected happens.
Many stories were heard, such as the supply teacher that couldn’t find the school he was supposed to be working at as the Satnav on his mobile wasn’t working. He didn’t have a Plan B as he had never owned a road atlas so wasn’t prepared, as he never imagined he’d not have his GPS.
And this is the problem. If something is important, you need a backup plan.
On the flip side, a taxi firm was well prepared. It had a documented Business Continuity process which meant switching from O2 to Vodafone – it took them just 20 minutes to switch over the cars and then they were fully operational again and able to do business.
However, what about the person that can’t get out of the house and has to phone the doctor? Landlines are rarely used for calls now so there is a likelihood that there is no phone attached. Again, no Plan B, but it would never occur to have a plan in place until the incident happens.
A phone line/broadband goes down because the house builders on the nearby estate cuts through the wrong cable. A computer goes bang because it has a faulty motherboard. A (non water-resitant) phone falls into the toilet. A snow flurry cuts off the employees from the office. These things happen and it could affect your business, your urgent situation, your everyday schedule. There are many areas that an incident could touch, most you won’t have thought about.
If the phone line connectivity is down, bring out the mobile internet hotspots for essential service to connect to or relocate to an alternate site. If the computer goes bang, have a backup laptop and sign back in to your already implemented (and hopefully compliant!) cloud solution, like Office365.
A Top Tip we were passed from our insurance partners, TechInsure make sure that you have contact and policy details for your cyber insurance provider somewhere else than on your IT systems. In the unfortunate event of a ransomware attack, you probably won’t be able to access the IT systems!
Having a plan, basic or otherwise, could be the difference between being back up and running or being beholden to a provider to fix and losing a lot of money. Risk Evolves works with customers to analyse possible risks, prioritise them and put the right contingency plans in place should the worst happen. Contact us today to see how we can help your business reduce the impact of risk.
