From the desk of Katie Merrill and Jenna Stenger –
As much as we wish they weren’t, natural disasters are a part of life. We learned this all too well recently when Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of up to 150 mph just south of our headquarters in Tampa.
Thankfully, we were prepared, but 25% of businesses don’t reopen after disasters. Having the right plan in place can make a world of a difference.
Your customers shouldn’t wait until it’s too late to put together a Business Continuity Plan, which should include communication planning and expectations for both employees and customers. It doesn’t need to be overly complicated but ensures both customers and employees are kept informed and their business operations can continue without disruption.
Here’s how we leveraged our UC tools when Hurricane Ian threatened our Florida team and some benefits that UC Cloud Tools can offer your customers during disaster recovery:
Create Disaster Recovery Spaces
For communication with employees, using Cloud UC tools such as Webex, Zoom, or Slack to create unique Disaster Recovery Spaces is a great way for teams to communicate. Within these spaces, your customers can set a regular cadence for updates from employees, including their internet and power status, cellular status, and general well-being.
A designated Disaster Recovery Space keeps management updated on everyone’s whereabouts and safety. It also keeps those communication spaces separate from other existing spaces where disaster-specific information can be lost or overlooked.
Reroute Calls
When disaster strikes for geographically dispersed teams, they can leverage their Cloud UC Admin Portal to reroute business calls from those in disaster areas to remote workers or distributed hunt groups outside of the impacted geographical location. This native UC feature is easy to set up as needed, and with B-Lynk’s library of videos and how-to guides, their team can find the information and instructions they need to reroute calls quickly.
Update Greetings
Keeping communication open and transparent with customers is also important. Your customers can update their Auto Attendant Greeting so callers are aware of their current business status, such as updated business hours of information on how best to contact them. Again, these tools are simple to activate with instructions provided through B-Lynk’s support content.
Benefits of UC Cloud Tools During Disaster Recovery
The benefits of UC Cloud tools during disaster recovery can’t be understated. Beyond the three above tactics, find how your customers can strengthen their Business Continuity Plan through UC Cloud tools:
- Location Agnostic: With Cloud UC products, your customers aren’t reliant on a single location, or limited to certain devices. Anyone can pick up the slack from any location, and from any device that’s working and accessible.
- Seamless Transition to Recovery Mode: Rather than relying on a system for emergencies only, Cloud UC tools are designed to be used during both regular operations and disaster recovery mode. Since Cloud UC tools are used every day, users will feel confident leveraging them when disaster strikes, creating seamless transitions.
- Geographic Diversity: On-premise solutions pool all IT assets in one location, leaving them more vulnerable to geographic threats. Cloud functionality naturally supports geographic diversity, which improves business resiliency.
- Expanded Communication Functionality: When voice is down, Cloud UC can interface with other technologies like instant messaging or live chat to support communication even in a disaster situation.
Prepare for the Worst with B-Lynk Training and Support
We all hope for the best in terms of natural disasters, but we should be prepared for the very worst and take that into consideration when developing a Business Continuity or Disaster Recovery Plan.
UC tools naturally support disaster recovery, and when your customers know how to use them properly in the wake of something as catastrophic as a hurricane or other natural disaster, they can support those affected and keep their business up and running despite the circumstances.
Help your customers feel confident leveraging their UC solutions for Business Continuity Planning with helpful training and support resources from B-Lynk. From customized webinars on the topic to easily accessible user guides and how-to videos, we can help your customers prepare for just about anything. Reach out to our UC experts to learn more.