The pandemic has changed many aspects of our personal and professional lives. In many cases, it is the technology we use that has underpinned these changes.
Unified communications as a service (UCaaS), for example, has enabled workforces worldwide to stay connected with their colleagues and customers.
The initial shock of office closures led to the widespread adoption of UCaaS platforms overnight so businesses could stay operational. Now, they’re in the process of adopting IT strategies for the mid and long-term. This means implementing robust business continuity plans to avoid scrambles like those in 2020.
Communication should hold a vital role in a business continuity strategy to ensure organizations can carry on functioning seamlessly in the event of a disruption.
However, despite its importance, comms can often be underrated when it comes to disaster recovery planning – according to net2phone Chief Technology Officer Jeffrey Skelton.
“Every company was forced into evaluating their business continuity capabilities because of the pandemic,” he explained. “They had to adopt remote working and support workflows in a remote way.
“However, the things businesses think about are the key things for supporting customers and managing revenue streams – so things like servers, customer databases, LAN, security, authentication, and things like that.
“But a business continuity plan shouldn’t just be about systems; it should be about people. When you start thinking about people, you have to start thinking about the phone system and collaboration platform.”
Skelton highlighted the critical role that UCaaS played in keeping people connected at the start of the pandemic as an example of where it excels.
Many businesses were still using on-premises PBXs in March 2020 when lockdowns were enforced around the world. In a lot of cases, employees switched to using personal devices to stay connected to colleagues and clients.
While this may have done the job to a certain extent, Skelton said it does not allow businesses to present their brand identity effectively.
“The PBX is one element of the overall, unifying structure for managing communication,” he explained.
