Having a process in place to enable your employees to work from home or remote location when they cannot get into their office goes a long way to ensuring that your business can continue to operate under adverse conditions. But these plans become useless when the technology is insufficient to support the process.
Technology great, process not great
Gareth Howell’s blog on ‘why business continuity planning should deal with processes, not technology’ quotes a fantastic example of lack of process undermining technology.
He cites a medium-sized company which had purchased laptops and remote access for employees to use in times when the office becomes inaccessible. However in January this year when the severe snow arrived it became obvious that keeping the laptops in the office was not the wisest of ideas as the employees were unable to get there to pick them up!
Process great, technology not great
However on the flip side the process could be in place – employees keeping the laptops at home for just an occasion – but then how will those employees continue answering their incoming calls that are directed at their office desk?
Unless the technology is available to re-route those individual incoming calls seamlessly to the employees’ home phone, then the phone will be ringing endlessly at the empty office.
A throrough planning of technology and processes which work together is the only way to ensure that should the worst happen to stop your staff from getting to work, everything is covered.
