Mike Giannulis discusses the relevance of communication for business continuity

Today, amidst this pandemic time, business continuity is one of the crucial concerns of most employers. Business houses and brands get challenged with unprecedented and constant changes to combat the global pandemic’s after-effects. Hence, employee communications have an essential role in setting up the correct workplace ambiance, enhancing team, and employee productivity.

Mike Giannulis on the significance of effective communications

From big enterprises to start-ups, most organizations need to have a business continuity strategy to use a system during an unwarranted situation. It helps them to maintain useful functions when a crisis strikes. Here Mike Giannulis points out that most companies think that business continuity and disaster recovery plan are the same, which can mislead others. A disaster recovery plan usually concentrates on restoring the IT operations and structures after any crisis. It’s just one aspect of the entire business continuity plan that focuses on the organization’s continuity.

How is the pandemic modifying business continuity strategies?

Several companies today have become vulnerable to the adverse effects of the pandemic. The initial plan of action is to recognize whether a business house is susceptible to external or internal threats and implement adequate measures to bring down the pandemic after-effects on business activities to secure themselves from getting impacted. Today, the companies are taking initiatives to get better at detecting crisis.

According to the International Labour Organization, there are four essential aspects that organizations should assess while creating a business continuity plan. They are:

  • People, the employees, and their family members
  • Profits and revenue generation.
  • Processes, which means enterprise operations
  • Partnerships that would enable the environment to carry out business functions

Internal communication is essential for a business continuity plan

One of the crucial adjustments that organizations need to make is flexible work hours. They should ensure that their employees are working safely in a remote location. To ensure this takes place seamlessly, the companies invest in employee communication initiatives much more than before. Additionally, they are offering real-time communications that abide by the health and government authority policies. It helps the employees to manage the change and ensure acceptable productivity levels at the time of a crisis.

According to an IBM study, business continuity professionals shared that they thought only 60% of employees are aware of things to do at the time of a crisis. When you make the most of a new plan and emergency communication methods, the company can get better equipped to combat any problem. Today, most companies have integrated mobile communication technologies in business continuity planning. It helps them to reach out to their employees and various other stakeholders effectively. Hence, the business continuity data, such as contact lists, government updates, company data, maps, and protocol files, are accessible to various employees in one communication platform. Using this technology allows crisis response teams to send real-time updates and alerts to combat the crisis. It helps them to understand the situation better and navigate it with a better crisis response.