In the modern business environment, teams must always be ready to face disruptions when they come their way. From poor weather to global pandemics, there is a lot that could derail your plans to reach the office. In many industries, the inability to react to these circumstances can be disastrous. It can end up leading to downtime and lost trust from important customers. Adaptability is crucial then, and thankfully for businesses there is plenty of technology to support them here. Even if your team can’t reach the office, there are still systems to help them work at their best.
Communications are one area that can thrive no matter if you are in the office or not. Many remote working solutions have arrived on the market recently that can do a huge amount to support businesses when the office is inaccessible. Your existing communications tools can likely help here too. Preparing for these situations is called Business Continuity and is sometimes referred to as Disaster Recovery. This preparation is more essential than ever.
Why do I need a Business Continuity Plan?
In short, for when things go wrong. Whether it is a nationwide issue like the recent lockdowns, or you just can’t access the office for a day, there needs to be preparation in place. If you can’t reliably reach the systems you typically have in place, then many parts of your business grind to a halt. Even if you can handle your calls and daily tasks on your mobile or laptop, there is a strong chance that members of your team can’t.
If you don’t have access to reliable communications outside of the office then your business is liable to suffer as a result. Team collaboration breaks down quickly without the right tools to get in touch. This leads to things being missed or overlooked. Customer service is also massively affected, most new customers won’t call back again if you miss their initial call. If your communication service is inaccessible, you are potentially at risk of losing thousands.
The solutions that can help you prepare
The best way to make your communications systems more accessible is by working with versatile technology. You don’t need to be taking your office phone system home with you, when you can access all of its features anywhere. This is the case with a Unified Communications system.
Unified Communications literally bring all of your communication services together on a device that suits you. Your team can access their calls, messages and even video services all in one place. Because Unified Communications services work via cloud infrastructure, they aren’t affected by any outages at your office, and can be used anywhere.
Your customer relationships are also not in jeopardy when these systems are in use as well. Unified Communications services integrate with your customer databases to provide you with customer information as soon as they call in. You can provide a bespoke service and guarantee that no calls are missed.
Devices for Business Continuity
Your Unified Communications platform can go a long way to supporting your business continuity plan. To fully prepare for working anywhere, your team need to have the proper equipment. You can’t make use of great software if you are using a 20-year-old device.
We believe that mobile technology holds the key to this situation. Your mobile can now connect to most of the business services you use on a daily basis. From your calls to your messaging services and even your most important files.
Keep the calls going, even outside of the office
Making sure your calls still run smoothly is one of the most essential features of a business continuity plan. When you are out of the office you can simply route calls to your mobile and access the same level of communication that you would in the office. This level of versatility is a lifesaver when you need to react to difficult circumstances on the fly.
Through a Unified Communication service, you can automatically set all office calls to be rerouted to a mobile, with no delay on your or the customer’s end. You can even keep the same number, creating a seamless experience.
Call routing is also effective for multi-site businesses. If one of your locations is inaccessible but others are, you can easily set up a call route to assist the site in need. Your customers don’t even have to know that the office they called into is unavailable.
A huge part of business is mitigating the impact of difficult situations. You have to be able to prioritise and understand the most important processes to maintain. Your communications are essential to everything your business does and so guaranteeing their efficacy is key. To find out more about any of the services we have mentioned here, or how to create a business continuity plan that is built for your business get in touch with the Netcomms team at 020 8370 8370 or visit our website.
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