Business continuity planning is crucial in terms of operational readiness, but it is also ideal for protecting brand reputation and sharpening the competitive edge of your company. In South Florida, a region often impacted by hurricanes, residents appreciate business owners who are able to quickly resume operations in the aftermath of a storm; for example, Chinese takeout restaurants equipped with gas stoves, generators and smartphones to provide comfort meals during a time of power outages, closed stores and long lines at gas stations.

Keeping Data Secure In Emergency Events

With a cloud-hosted Voice over Internet Protocol system, your business communications are inherently protected against disastrous situations, particularly if they are managed as Unified Communications. Keep in mind that UC integrates voice calls, email, faxes, voice mail, chat, and office documents; even if your desk phones and workstations are lost in a fire, you will still be able to access the UC platform from a web portal, thus allowing you to forward calls to smartphones, laptops or desktop computers that can connect to the internet. 

With cloud-based UC solutions, the concerns of your business continuity planning should focus on system backups, redundancy, and internet access. As previously mentioned, equipment is a minor issue; you can designate mobile devices and position computers at alternate office locations, which may include the homes of senior managers and key staff members. It is more important to think in terms of duplicating the UC platform so that it can be enabled from a different data center in case the primary hosting platform goes down.