Massive Damages Due to IT Outages
In our digitally connected world, a robust IT infrastructure is essential. According to OpenGear, 91% of companies worldwide experience a serious IT outage at least once a quarter, which highlights the urgency of preventive measures.
Cyberattacks and IT outages not only cause financial damage, they also jeopardize a company’s business processes and reputation. Studies show that an outage costs a larger company an average of 5,600 US Dollars per minute.
According to the Global Data Protection Index from Dell Technologies, almost one in three companies surveyed said they had suffered data loss due to IT outages in the last 12 months. Such losses can have devastating consequences if adequate precautions are not taken.
For example, the recent CrowdStrike incident cost U.S. Fortune 500 companies an estimated 5.4 billion Dollars. In light of these facts, IT leaders need to prepare for such situations and implement adequate security measures.
A fail-safe business messenger, such as Teamwire, acts as a lifeline here. Imagine your main IT systems go down, but your teams can continue to communicate seamlessly, make decisions, and remain operational. This ultimately allows you to maintain operations and recover more quickly.
Business Continuity Management: Why Preparation for IT-Failures and Emergencies Is Essential
These alarming figures show the need for effective business continuity management (BCM). BCM is essential to manage IT outages and maintain business operations. A proactive approach not only helps to minimize potential damage, but also to strengthen the company’s resilience. Preparation includes, for example:
- Risk assessment: Identify the biggest threats to your IT infrastructure and assess their potential impact.
- Contingency plans: Develop detailed plans to respond to different scenarios. This includes both technical and organizational measures.
- Backup solutions: Implement alternative systems and services (e.g., Business Messenger) that can be used in the event of a failure or parallel with existing systems.
- Employee training: Ensure that all employees are informed about the plans and know how to act in an emergency.
A well-thought-out and continuously optimized BCM plan significantly minimizes the impact of IT failures.
Challenges and Risks of BCM
Despite the many benefits, BCM also has its challenges and risks. One of the biggest challenges is complexity. Implementing a comprehensive BCM program requires careful planning and coordination between different departments and stakeholders.
Some of the most common challenges are:
- Lack of resources: Smaller companies often do not have the required resources to implement a comprehensive BCM program.
- Lack of testing and practice: Many organizations develop BCM plans but fail to test and update them regularly. In a study, 40% of companies reported they had BCM plans in place, but 23% said they had never tested them.
- Change management: The IT landscape is constantly changing, and it can be difficult to keep BCM plans up to date.
However, these challenges should not be considered insurmountable obstacles. Rather, they should be seen as opportunities to improve and strengthen existing strategies. Communication solutions such as Teamwire, which offer a stable communication platform that works reliably even in times of crisis, can play a key role here.
Why Communication Is Crucial in Emergencies
In crises, effective communication is crucial to any business. The ability to quickly and accurately disseminate information is a critical factor in how well a company can respond to unexpected events. A crisis can take many forms, from cyber-attacks to natural disasters. In such times, the speed of information transfer is crucial. Here are some key reasons why communication is essential in emergencies:
- Faster decision-making: Real-time communication enables decision-makers to make immediate and informed decisions.
- Employee coordination: Clear communication channels ensure that all employees are empowered, can work together, and know what steps to take next.
- Customer transparency: Fast and transparent communication with customers and partners minimizes the risk of misunderstandings and strengthens trust.
A Fail-Safe Business Messenger as an Essential Tool
A secure business messenger offers numerous advantages, that make it an indispensable tool for business continuity. Teamwire provides functions that are specifically designed to ensure continuity in crises.
The most important functions include:
- Alerts to quickly warn of emergencies and receive feedback from those affected
- Broadcasting to inform employees about crisis and emergencies, and keep them informed on an ongoing basis
- Status messages to highlight instructions for action in an emergency and describe the next steps
- Push-to-Talk to enable direct and fast voice communication, which is also possible in parallel with other activities
- Group chats, to simplify communication between members of the crisis team via predefined groups and distribution lists, for example
- Video conferences, to discuss critical topics at any time and transmit live images from locations if required
- Live locations to improve coordination and determine locations in emergencies
- Fail-safe hosting with the highest security standards and certifications, separate from the rest of the IT infrastructure
Advantages Over Conventional Communication Tools
Conventional communication tools, such as email or phone calls, can often be unreliable or cumbersome in crises. A business messenger offers significant advantages:
- Speed: Messages are delivered in real-time.
- Availability: Access from anywhere, from any device, and at any time, regardless of the availability of the main IT systems.
- User-friendliness: Intuitive and familiar user interfaces make it easier to use.
- Effective coordination: All employees can be reached via group chats and different teams of any size can be coordinated easily and centrally
- Protected communication thanks to encrypted messages
- Multimedia support: In addition to text, images, videos, voice messages, and other file formats can also be exchanged quickly and easily.
- Centralized communication: All messages and information are collected in one place, easy to find, and easy to search (instead of scattered across different email inboxes and phone calls).
Conclusion
In an increasingly networked and digitalized world, the ability to be prepared for IT outages and cyberattacks is crucial to a company’s long-term success. A crisis communication tool like Teamwire plays a central role in this. Not only does it ensure fast and secure communication, but it also helps to maintain business continuity in times of crisis.
By investing in technologies such as a fail-safe business messenger, you not only increase your company’s resilience but also minimize downtime and secure a valuable competitive advantage. Strengthen your business continuity management and rely on Teamwire!
