Future of business resilience

Are you ready for the next big shockwave to hit your business? It will come. And you need to ensure your business is resilient enough to weather the storm. You may believe you are well-positioned to face risk. After all, you have a business continuity plan, right? But being resilient is about far more than just continuity.

Business continuity means being able to carry on operating at a baseline level despite disruptions. Business resiliency, on the other hand, is about adapting, and emerging stronger and more competitive than ever. Resilient businesses can withstand shocks. They don’t just bounce back. They grow, expand and take advantage of the opportunities that change can bring.

How do businesses build resilience?

Fundamental to any resilient business is a strong, stable and agile IT system. With the right technology in place, you can adapt easily and pivot quickly to seize opportunities when the world changes around you. This why it is important to accelerate your digital transformation journey now, with a focus on the following crucial elements:

Agility
Examine your IT systems, plans and operations closely and identify all potential vulnerabilities. Be rigorous about it and use hard data. Consider where your business is in greatest need and where shocks might hurt the most – particularly in places where you generate revenue. Then build in redundancies and processes to help buffer you from any emergencies. This will allow you to be agile and react quickly, come what may.

Workforce
Your business is only as resilient as your people. If you haven’t already conducted a workforce analysis and made sure you have a talent plan in place, now is the time. You can find some great tips here. One of the best ways to ensure your employees are ready for anything is to invest in training and learning. At FSi, we offer a Continued Learning Portal to our Managed Services clients to provide ongoing continued education through unique and immersive training experiences. Both IT and non-IT staff should be familiar and comfortable with the technology you use in your organization, and educated about processes for handling – and even capitalizing on – change.

Accelerate digital platforms
Modern technology is driven by cloud infrastructure. No longer do organizations need to have expensive servers and other IT located on their premises in order to be competitive. This levels the playing field for small- and mid-sized businesses – and it gives them the ability to be just as resilient as their larger counterparts. By embracing the cloud, you can ensure your data is stored securely, and that your staff can access everything they need to work from anywhere, accelerating productivity. A cloud-based platform can give you the capacity for rapid innovation and the ability to thrive in the face of change.

Cybersecurity
Key to business resilience is the ability to protect your data from outside threats, hacks and security breaches. Investments in cybersecurity will not only help you to ward off attacks but will also give you the ability to detect them quickly, and recover as rapidly as possible. Assess your readiness using some of the questions available here.

Business resilience means ensuring your business is positioned to be even better than it was before a disruption. There’s no way of knowing what kind of shock might come your way, from a public health emergency, to a trade dispute, a weather event, or other crisis. That’s why it’s essential to make sure your IT systems are set up to give you a solid foundation so you can survive – and thrive – in the face of just about anything.

How FSi Strategies can help

We’re here to lend a hand. Strategic planning is at the heart of the services we provide. Get in touch today.

You can learn more on these pages:
– Strategic Planning
– Back to the Office and Beyond

Read more here about how we helped businesses cope with the unexpected shift to remote work when the global pandemic hit in 2020.

Check out our eBook on how a Managed Services Provider (MSP) can support you.