TALKING

Following the first lockdown , Sungard AS commissioned IDC to conduct an independent research study into workplace recovery and the associated motivations , challenges and priorities . The findings show that most organisations have a partial Disaster Recovery ( DR ) plan in place , but far too many have no plan whatsoever .

Last year has shown both the need for , and previous gaps in , Business Continuity ( BC ) and DR planning within a variety of industries . BC planning provides a framework to deal with complex situations , to allow organisations to function with as little disruption as possible . The first lockdown in Spring came as a surprise to many companies , the second less so . Resilience planning lessons from the first lockdown should be identified and implemented to improve workplace recovery options for an uncertain future .

The pandemic exposed the preparedness weakness of many companies . Fewer than half ( 48.4 %) of all applications are protected by a Disaster Recovery plan and unfortunately , when it comes to workplace recovery and pandemic planning , the situation appears even worse . Only 17.4 % of organisations had planned for workforce contingencies covering more than 20 % of their respective workforces . This barely starts to cover the number of employees who have been impacted by the pandemic . required people to do so wherever possible . Not all companies achieved this seamlessly . WFH limitations were quickly exposed and included : employee collaboration was initially limited or hampered ; use of personal devices – whether PC or tablet – increased , challenging device management and security controls in IT teams ; extensive emergency purchases of IT hardware ; and home networks did not meet corporate standards for security , creating vulnerabilities and increasing the attack surface into corporate systems .

Companies need to define their cybersecurity ‘ new normal ’, which should see flexible and adaptable solutions , such as software-defined perimeters replacing older , more vulnerable technologies such as VPNs . The future dispersed way of working implies less control for IT security teams as their companies use more cloud-based services ( IaaS , PaaS , SaaS ) from major outsourced vendors .

Chris Butler , Lead Principal Consultant , Resilience and Security at Sungard AS

Taking into account the customary Business Continuity disruptions , how can business leaders use pandemic learnings to improve their workplace recovery planning ?

Are businesses learning from the first lockdown ?

Continuing to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic , and its aftermath , remains one of the biggest business challenges of the decade .

From the survey , IDC found that three-quarters ( 75 %) of organisations can be considered unprepared for a significant organisational disruption . Pandemic planning is a necessity and few organisations have formalised it .

The first lockdown in the UK exposed the preparedness weakness of many companies . Those with workplace recovery plans typically had considered only 5 – 15 % of their workforce ( deemed critical ), whereas the pandemic affected the majority .

Most organisations moved quickly to a Working from Home ( WFH ) posture , as government guidance

The positive news is that organisations seem to recognise the need for greater preparedness – 66 % of organisations plan to spend more on BC and 61 % plan more on workplace recovery over the next 24 months . This is a positive sign , but organisations need to act decisively .

A quarter of organisations expect to increase the use of third-party workplace recovery facilities in the future and 22 % expect to increase the use of dedicated / reserved seats in third-party workplace recovery facilities . Investment in infrastructure is also key , with www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO EUROPE 39