Telecommunications: Business Continuity

A good management prepares itself to protect its most significant functions from emergencies and contingencies. With efficient planning, management can make the effects of system failure vanish with immediate implementation of an alternative plan to ensure normal functioning. System failure may be due to several disastrous and unexpected reasons and emergency situations. But one should always be prepared with a valid logical plan of how to recover and restore the operations which have come to a standstill. Recovery and restoration alone are not the key factors, the time within which it has to be accomplished takes precedence. The process of planning to handle these unexpected risks is called Business Continuity Planning.

Telecommunication plays a significant role in the success of a business and its interruption or failure will be disastrous and cause irredeemable loss to the business no matter what the reason is for the failure. It affects not only the internal but also the external functioning, especially customer relationship, which no business can afford to risk. Emergency situations may vary from simple malfunctioning of systems to complex scenarios where there is an unauthorized entry or breakdown of the system due to power, network failure, natural calamities, man-made disasters, etc.

First, business continuity plans should first define the normal process to be followed for efficient day-to-day operations. Second, it is essential to have plans to handle all types of anticipated emergencies and contingencies. Third, the most unexpected circumstances must be foreseen and planned for. It is always better to have multiple plans. These business continuity plans should have different approaches and be completely exclusive of one another so that they deal with potential as well as unforeseeable and extraordinary emergencies strategically. The plan which seems to be a perfect solution for one problem may not be so for another. So, it is important to plan with the different catastrophes from the simplest to the most tedious one that a business may have to face in mind. The priorities, needs, human resources available, the work scenario, budget allocation, and technology available all play an important role in planning. Business continuity planning minimizes risk and cost of failure.

Planning alone will never be sufficient to handle an emergency situation. The role each person has to play and the technology involved has to be well defined. The execution of the job should be practiced well. Equipment involved in such plans should be well maintained and technology upgraded to the state of the art from time to time. Centralization of manpower and equipment should be avoided. The equipment and manpower should be spread throughout the physical premises of the business. Authority and decision making should be spread throughout the business structure as well. Reliance on one service provider should be avoided. The communication network of staff in emergency situations should be well established.

The cost involved may be prohibitive. But if a business continuity plan is not in place the entire business may crash taking with it years of hard work, effort, and finance. Risk management is a must for every business as is business continuity and telecommunication services the life line of a business should be handled with care.