COVID-19 Business Continuity Planning—Here’s What You Should Do Now

Many businesses are grappling with the challenges they are faced with due to the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic. Research reveals that just 12% of all businesses in the pandemic have the capacity to address threats posed by the situation. As millions of businesses become extinct each year, businesses are stepping in to assist business owners in remaining operational.

During crises like this, it is vital for the health of the organization to have a business continuity plan in place. This would allow you to take the necessary steps to cater to your present while securing your future. If you do not have a plan yet, you can start now with a few steps.

Step One: The Present

In a pandemic, it is crucial to prioritize the health and safety of your workers first. Use services that global businesses offer to achieve this.

1. Allow workers to work from home if they prefer to do so.
2. If working from the office, ensure your employees are physically distant from one another. Provide workspaces that have at least six feet of space between them. Sanitize work areas each day both during and after work hours.
3. Ensure that work areas are not populated by preventing large meetings.
4. Areas for public use like elevators, staircases, or canteens should be sanitized regularly and must follow social distance protocol.
5. Restrict any non-essential business travel. If you must travel, make sure you are following local health and safety guidelines.

COVID-19 has proven to be not only a test of survival but also of leadership. Business owners should be empathetic and adaptable. They should communicate their views clearly and be prepared to give new directions necessary for sustaining their organization.

Step Two: The Immediate Future (Short-Term)

The next step would be to assess the priorities of your business and meet the needs of your primary stakeholders.

1. Recognize key processes that need to be managed such as payroll, health care, and the supply chain. These processes will vary from one business to another. You can achieve this by identifying which functions will have the biggest impact if they are not available in the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Take steps to manage these critical processes by delegating tasks to other members of your team.
3. Reduce expenses by scaling down the scope of your projects.
4. Assess risks and use your resources to mitigate the negative impact of these on your business.
5. Institute a crisis response command centre to measure productivity, quality, factors such as customer engagement and well being of your employees.

Step Three: The Extended Future (Long-Term)

Once you have taken care of your present and immediate future needs, establish a plan for the long term.

1. Develop a long-term business strategy. Promote processes that enable cash flow and lower expenditures.
2. Create a collaborative work culture where you encourage workers to use digital tools and share knowledge.
3. Use a mix of different service models to lower risks posed by an emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic. Distributed global service models ensure that you can deliver good performance anytime.
4. Reduce stress on your workforce by using machine intelligence to perform transactional operations.
5. Employ a flexible work model like part work from home, part from office, depending on the kind of work being performed. This can be achieved by using tools like cloud computing, technology, and data.

Implement your business continuity plan today and protect your business from future risks. Post any crisis, put health and hygiene first by ensuring your workplace has these essential items.

Brandmaximizers offers a new pandemic-based product line for all businesses to adapt to the changing norms.