The terrifying spread of coronavirus has quickly captured the headlines in all parts of the world. However, according to EACS, a leader in the delivery of mid-market IT services, the impact on the health of small and mid-sized businesses could be worse than we thought.
As the epidemic continues to spread across Europe, many organisations have begun to respond with new remote working strategies for their employees. However, many SMEs don’t have the right policies and processes in place to allow for this influx of remote working. This could mean that a lack of support, technology, and policy could be harming productivity and security in the business landscape.
Embracing the Demand for Remote Working
Currently, remote working is being explored as a simple and effective way to reduce the risk that commuters have of falling ill with coronavirus. It’s already being adopted as a solution by businesses around the UK, who are encouraging their teams to self-isolate. The advantages of embracing a cloud infrastructure are well-known around the country, but nothing has encouraged the move to the cloud as quickly as the coronavirus threat.
While most SMEs already have disaster recovery plans in place that focus on infrastructure and data protection opportunities, they may not have considered Business Continuity Plans before. These SMEs might not offer remote working typically, and they could be at risk of severe problems with productivity and security if they don’t rethink their approach to Business Continuity Planning (BCP).
According to the COO of EACS, Stuart Dickinson, it’s becoming increasingly likely that over the next few months, we’ll be seeing more companies of all sizes sending their workforces to work from home. We have been forced into the biggest remote working environment ever seen. For many SMEs, however, this change will be challenging to implement.
Coping with the Demand for a New Work Style

Simply asking workforces to take a laptop home with them and carry on with business as usual isn’t always the way to go with some businesses. In certain cases, productivity will fall almost immediately. At the same time, if the right protections and policies aren’t in place than the risk of a devastating cyber attack goes up too. These businesses need to think more carefully about how they can remain productive and secure in an environment that demands remote working, according to EACS.
Dickinson noted that smaller businesses now need to get the right plans in place to ensure that they’re prepared for an increase in remote working staff who want to avoid travel to the workplace. Organisations need to be ready to test the outcomes of their remote working strategy before they’re forced to rely on them.