However, even the most comprehensive business continuity plans (also known as BCPs) can fail under certain circumstances, leaving businesses vulnerable.

For companies in the UK, understanding how to recover from such failures is just another part of the business continuity planning process, especially in an era where cyber threats and natural disasters are on the rise and becoming increasingly more sophisticated.

Understanding Business Continuity Failure

Business continuity failure occurs when a company’s BCP is either insufficient to address a crisis or is entirely non-functional during a critical event. This can lead to extended downtime, financial loss, and damage to the company’s reputation.

But failure isn’t actually the end, instead how a business responds to the failure of its plan can determine how it comes out of the disaster and how it moves forward.

One of the stand-out examples of a business continuity plan gone totally wrong is the 2021 ransomware attack on Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE).

Despite having fairly tough cyber security protocols in place, the HSE was wholly unprepared for the sheer scale of the Conti ransomware attack.

The system-wide breach forced the HSE to shut down essential services, from its outpatient clinics to its payroll system, affecting some 146 000 healthcare workers. It took three months to fully restore operations but as a result, the failure showed the need for the HSE to create an even tougher and far more adaptable continuity plan, one that could, going forward, handle even the worst kinds of unexpected threats.

Simple Steps to Bounce Back from Failure

Recovering from a business continuity failure involves more than just getting back to business as usual.

It requires a strategic approach to mitigate the damage, restore operations, and strengthen resilience against future threats. If this is a situation your company currently faces, or if you just want to cover all your bases, this is how to bounce back.

• Assess the Damage Quickly and Thoroughly

The first step in bouncing back is to conduct a thorough assessment of the damage.

This involves identifying what went wrong with the BCP, what systems were affected, and the immediate impact on operations. For the HSE, this meant inspecting over 2 000 IT systems and shutting down more than 85 000 computers to contain the ransomware.

A swift, comprehensive damage assessment enables businesses to prioritise recovery efforts and allocate their resources effectively.

• Communicate Transparently with Stakeholders

Transparent communication with stakeholders, whether they are employees, customers, or partners, is critical during a recovery.

In the case of the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, which was hit by the Globe2 ransomware in 2016, the lack of an effective BCP led to the shutdown of hospitals and the disruption of care for over 2 800 patients, with patients, including women in labour, being turned away.

Clear communication about the situation and steps being taken to rectify it would have been essential in maintaining trust and managing expectations during the crisis.

• Take Advantage of Technology for Recovery

Technology can be both a vulnerability and a saviour in business continuity.

When Hurricane Harvey hit Texas in 2017, Gaille Media’s physical office space became unusable.

However, thanks to a forward-thinking BCP that used cloud-based operations, Gaille Media’s team was able to work remotely without any disruption to their services.

Using cloud technology, remote working solutions, and data backups can significantly speed up your recovery times and ensure business continuity even when the physical infrastructure is compromised.

• Revise and Strengthen the BCP

After stabilising operations, it’s important to revisit and revise your BCP.

The shortcomings revealed during a crisis should be addressed, and the plan should then be updated to prevent similar failures in the future.

This continuous improvement approach ensures that your business is better prepared for the next unforeseen event.

*

If you take anything from this blog, it’s this: Don’t wait for a crisis to strike.

Contact 24/7 IT Services today to ensure your business is resilient against any challenge by letting us help you with your business continuity plan. We also provide managed IT support and IT security solutions.

The post How to Bounce Back From Business Continuity Failure appeared first on 247 IT Services.

The app has been in the works for a while, and in 2021 Microsoft officially showcased Loop. The app is designed to simplify collaborative projects and to increase productivity, and it is able to sync various aspects of projects and it allows users to move parts of projects to other Microsoft apps such as PowerPoint, Teams, Word and Excel.

Loop has been called a “transformative co-creation experience” by Microsoft, which is a fancy way of saying that Loop is going to be used to bring teams closer together through shared content, tasks and tools.

With Loop, app users who are collaborating on projects will no longer suffer with the frustration of having to jump between pages, worksheets and whatever else they are building their project on. Instead they will have the perfect tool to organise their work and to instantly share what they are doing with other team members. Users will even be able to drag and drop items from their desktop into the Loop workspace and from there to arrange it in such a way that it is easier to work with.

What you need to know about Loop

The entire app is built around its workspace, which is the digital area in which the project folders are accessible.

The process of using Loop starts with adding a title to the workspace and from there adding a couple of keywords. Loop will then use the keywords to create a list of recommended files, documents and other helpful things which you can then add to the workspace to make it more personalised and suitable for the project you are working on.

The app will give you a better organised project and it will provide structure to the project so that it is easier to understand. With such an organised structure, new team members can quickly get to work.

Loop comes with pre-made templates and a highly intuitive design. On the workspace you will be able to create checklists as well as numbered lists, add tables and you can also add images.  

Working with Loop

Unlike other collaborative project programmes, with Loop the commands can be accessed using a few keys.

When you enter “/” you will be given a dropdown menu which will give you access to all of the lists that are available, as well as headings, tables and Loop components. The programme is also being designed to work with Copilot, which you will also be able to access by pressing “/”.

By clicking “@” you will be able to access a list of suggested people and files. You will also be able to leave comments and react to the work done by others, with Loop giving you a list of instant replies as well as fun emojis.

Loop is not just ideal for structuring and building projects. It can also be an interactive brainstorming platform.

And it is not just those who have access to the project that you can share project information with. Loop will allow you to “decompose information”, which means you will be able to take parts of the project and share it to those working outside of the workspace. Doing this is as easy as copying and pasting the information into a Microsoft 365 app of your choosing, after it has been turned into a component.

You can also share pages as a live page or as a link. When doing this, the person you are sharing it with will be able to leave a response on the page. The response will then be added to the page and the update will be available in the workspace.

Loop promises to be the next big productivity app, and if you are already an avid Microsoft 365 user, Loop will be a natural fit in your productivity tool line up.

*

At 24/7 IT Services we aim to help our clients in the London area to get the most out of their IT set up and programmes. Our popular services include Managed IT Support, IT Consultancy Services, and Business Continuity.  

The post The Preview for Microsoft’s Loop App is here appeared first on 247 IT Services.