Thanks to technology, it is now easier than ever to communicate with customers, manage information and transactions, and perform business operations from wherever you are. It is also much easier, thanks to things like the cloud, to ensure your vital data is never lost, and is always accessible. These are good things, of course, however the fact that they have been around for a while now means that customers have become less forgiving when a business is not able to provide something they expect due to ‘technical issues’ or problems on their sites.
Customers Don’t Like Excuses
Where in the past a customer may have accepted if records of previous conversations with them had been lost because of an IT problem or an incident at a business location like a flood, now most people operate under the assumption that businesses are able to keep their data safe. People also tend to expect that you can provide services even if people can’t get to your office because of bad weather, transport strikes, or even more serious events. They no longer see these things as valid excuses to provide a less than top notch service, and may even view your business as incompetent if you are unable to operate as normal during unusual circumstances or after an incident.
Good Business Continuity is Easy, So You Need to Have it
Tech savvy customers may feel that a consistent and reliable service is to be expected from all of the businesses they communicate with because they themselves understand about the importance of backup and disaster recovery, and just how easy it is to implement these days. Failing to have considered business continuity and disaster recovery may therefore make a business seem negligent to this kind of customer. Those outside of industries where they would be concerned with things like this however also have similar expectations, purely because the vast majority of businesses they encounter do have strategies in place to offer consistent, seamless service in most situations.
Take Action Now If You Aren’t Confident in Your Business Continuity Plan
Of course, while business continuity may be something it is much easier to plan for thanks to things like mobile technology and cloud data storage, it can also be easy to put on the back burner for too long, as it is something that never seems urgent until a scenario actually arises! Even if you have a feeling you’d be OK in a disaster and have the right technology in place, it can be a good idea to create a proper business continuity and disaster recovery plan, including not only what you will do from a technical standpoint but also who will take on what responsibilities, and the kind of messages that would be given to clients. If you are not confident you can in fact operate without access to your premises or have data that may be lost, then now is the time to do something about that, too.
Good business continuity plans are no longer ‘nice to have’ things that small businesses can overlook. Customers have become more demanding and used to reliable service in all kinds of situations, so make sure you can give it to them.
