Turning Tables: Business Continuity In Today’s Pandemic World

Almost every city worldwide, if not all, have experienced a major change in their economic, health, and social life caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With industries relying on foot traffic and in-person transactions, lockdowns on a global scale has been a struggle for businesses to stay afloat.

As countries ease restrictions and lockdowns, organizations on the other hand, are taking strategic steps to recover their business and revenue streams. Companies are accelerating change in many aspects of their business continuity plan, but are they in the right path?

The rapidly changing COVID-19 picture means one false move and your corporate performance and value is seriously impacted. In this uniquely challenging environment, how can you make your business more resilient?

Developing an effective risk and contingency system for your business is a must because the quicker you stabilize cash and liquidity flow, the clearer and more realistic your current options will be in place.

Perceptions of what is considered a normal behavior pre-pandemic may shift dramatically in the future. The need for technology as a reflection of the needs and habits of the people will change as well. Companies will start to utilize technology as a way to adapt to the new normal. But the question here is, how ready are you to cope up as the world starts to enter this new chapter?

Back to basic

Every organization has a framework called business continuity management, or BCM, which identifies potential external and internal threats that can endanger the whole company.

Consisting of disaster recovery, crisis management, contingency planning, and business continuity planning, BCM enables the company to effectively respond to an event and ensure the operation of critical business functions.

Companies must be predictive and proactive in their decision-making to preserve business continuity and build enterprise resilience. So, to better prepare for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, every business should prioritize having a business continuity plan in place. This plan should be a detailed plan-of-action that defines any and all risks that can affect the businesses’ operations, customers, and employees.

As simple as it may sound, it will identify the bloodline of the company, and thus may result in a lot of changes, placing the health and safety of the employees as the top priority these days due to the current situations.

Preparatory measures

As companies navigate the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, there are a number of key issues corporate leaders should be thinking about, as well as steps they can take to not only react to severe business shocks now but also to reshape their business and plan for recovery for a much better future.

Given all the circumstances, prioritizing the safety of your people is essential. Employee safety and well-being should be eagerly addressed in an open and transparent manner.

One of the adjustments companies have to make is to initiate or expand flexible work arrangements and other policies allowing people to work remotely and safely. Companies will want to reorganize teams, reallocate resources, and establish employee well-being programs and policies that support a safe working environment.

Additionally, companies should also focus on having regular communications as well as find ways on how they can reimagine a business-as-usual environment while minimizing disruptions for the organization to stay in the fine tune.

If your company is looking into remote working solutions, you’ll need to determine if you have the capacity, technology, and tools to support a small or even a large remote team. However, if you still look into doing business-as-usual, you need to create a strategy that will enable your employees to continue work without endangering them.

The recovery stage

As a business, it’s vital that you stay updated on the latest news and regulations put into place by government officials. This also provides you with more information to help identify the risks and overall impact COVID-19 will have on your business.

Possible problems may arise such as employees being unable to travel to work due to travel restrictions, additional costs of establishing a remote workforce, a visible slow down on sales, etc. These are just some of the setbacks you may experience and should plan to solve.

Your continuity plan should list the various risks of COVID-19, as well as the plan of action your business has in place to mitigate these risks. It’s best to be transparent when identifying the risks and impact of COVID-19. If your business is unable to operate during this time, state that in your plan and list the various reasons for this decision.

As the impact and spread of COVID-19 continues to reshape the way businesses operate, it’s critical that you review existing business plans, including your current Business Continuity Plan and Business Disaster Recovery Plan.

Consider putting new internal guidelines, plans, and policies in place based on the lessons you may have learned along the way. This will help you better respond to future crises and pandemics.

Solutions unfolding the Salarium way

What does a return to work will look like, while protecting the health and safety of your employees? As business leaders scramble to imagine life in the post-pandemic world, industries are actively assembling their back-to-work strategies.

Companies are starting to implement various strategies to balance the need for their corporation to resume profitability and yet be responsible to their employees. Some are changing their floor plans by separating desks and walling workstations. Others are implementing staggered shifts and new measures in hand washing and sanitation is becoming the norm.

We at Salarium, promote a safe workplace environment. Our latest solution supports businesses in their back-to-work strategies towards the new normal. To significantly reduce contact without sacrificing convenience and efficiency, we bring you FacePass, our Touchless Time and Attendance Solution. This solution allows you to ensure the safety of your employees who are reporting onsite and to manage those reporting offsite or working from home.

Our new service is a touchless facial recognition device paired with our time and attendance system to give you an all-in-one timekeeping formula. It comes with updated features developed for the new norm. These are:

• Touchless and accurate time and attendance monitoring – record your employees’ clock-ins and clock-outs real-time via facial recognition.
• Body temperature scanning – set a threshold and scan your employees’ body temperature. An alarm will be triggered if someone exceeds the normal temperature.
• Primary protocol enforcement – make face masks mandatory in your offices yet easily capture and recognize time-ins and time-outs even with masks on.

We are committed to providing you with an answer. For more information, you may visit https://www.salarium.com/facepass/.

SOURCES:

• Tong, I., Mack, C., Basnayake, H. (2020, March 18). COVID-19 Business Continuity Plan: Five Ways to Reshape
• Hemmerdinger, R. A New Normal: Touchless Offices In The Post-Pandemic World.
• International Chamber Of Commerce. COVID-19 Business Continuity Guide.
• Management Events. (2020, June 22). Business Continuity: How Industries Are Adapting To A Post-COVID-19 World
• Betterteam. COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Business Continuity Plan, Business Continuity Plans and COVID-19: How to Prepare with 7 Effective Steps.