Four steps to ensure business continuity when employees are working remotely

As governments and businesses are instructing citizens and employees to work from home, Claude Schuck, regional manager, Middle East at Veeam Software, a backup solutions company that enable cloud data management, has identified four key areas all businesses must address to ensure business continuity.

To help businesses remain productive, support remote workers and protect against cyber-attacks, IT departments are focused on making sure that data remains available and protected 24 by 7 by 365.

To ensure all systems stay running and accessible to employees working from home, without interruption and with the guarantee that sensitive business information remains protected, businesses must:

Make data available: To keep loss of productivity to a minimum during extended periods of home-working, employees need to have access to all the files, tools, apps, and information they are used to when working in the office. With the majority of organisations are using hybrid cloud infrastructure, IT teams must embrace cloud data management to ensure all data remains fully available and accessible to employees across all storage environments.

Secure virtual offices: It is essential that data is secure as more employees are working remotely. This not only puts data at risk from a security standpoint, but also increases the attack vector for any malicious activity. IT teams must educate employees on cybersecurity best practices to reduce the risk of cyber criminals gaining access to a network via phishing links. They must also make sure all remote workstations are backed up to secure endpoints and installed with protective, up-to-date anti-virus software.

Back up data regularly: Conducting regular backups is vital to ensuring the data employees create is stored and managed in the usual resilient way, regardless of where they’re working. This starts with a backup and disaster recovery business continuity plan that’s regularly tested and implemented. CIOs need to plan for the potential effects of entire departments accessing through a particular VPN, for instance.

Embrace automation: Particularly when IT teams are overstretched with providing desk-side support, monitoring network capacity and tightening up cybersecurity to support increased working from home, automating crucial business continuity procedures should be in any progressive CIO’s thinking. Whether it’s running backups or monitoring the network for potential vulnerabilities and threats, automation should be the IT team’s best friend when faced with new, unprecedented challenges.

The views expressed in this article are Claude Schuck’s own opinions and not necessarily those of Business Tech Africa.