Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI) is the oldest and largest nonprofit that helps organizations around the world prepare for and recover from disasters.
The DRI’s Future Vision Committee recently published the sixth installment of its annual predictions report, covering topics that have direct or indirect impact on business resiliency. During a time that few people will ever forget, DRI’s predictions for 2021 focus on an array of subjects, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on society and its impact on the remote work environment. Here are a few key topics noted in the report:
- Remote Working – Working from home was the urgent temporary solution employed by many companies when COVID-19 forced social distancing. Businesses where remote work was possible scrambled to upgrade virtual private networks (VPNs) to increase capacity and network throughput as added numbers of remote workers put increased stress on systems. Figures collected by DRI from various university studies about the effectiveness of remote working ranged from 40% effective down to 25% effective. If remote work does in fact become the new norm, businesses everywhere will need to adapt and revise current Human Resources and IT policies and procedures to effectively maintain the welfare of employees and stress and throughput on VPN traffic, along with managing short- and long-term business and technology strategies that encompass internal systems and applications and recovery strategies.
- Climate Change and Natural Disasters – Often overlooked by businesses, a natural disaster can wreak havoc on an organization’s ability to remain functioning amid chaos and panic. Flooding or storm damage from a hurricane, for instance, can leave businesses without power to their main data or backup data sites. Considering that the potential of such events can be well covered in a business impact analysis (BIA), completing that process can help a company be better prepared for a disaster-type incident that may otherwise leave it scrambling for solutions.
- Pandemic or Health Emergency – It’s been said that pandemics come once every 100 years, and dare we even consider another COVID-like event when we’re not yet out of our current situation. DRI contends that travel bubbles and lockdowns will continue to cause disruption to business and may persist throughout 2021 until the pandemic is brought under control. With multiple vaccines having been approved and now being issued to the populace, however, a return to normal office life may soon be on the horizon for many businesses.
The aforementioned issues are but a few considerations businesses must strategize to remain resilient and, most importantly, protect employees. Topics in the DRI report cover some vital pieces of the puzzle to consider when conducting BIAs and developing business continuity and disaster recovery strategies.
If you have questions about completing the BIA process or developing and reviewing current business continuity and disaster recovery strategies, please contact us at [email protected]. We welcome discussion.
