In today’s world, there’s no business that doesn’t rely on information technology (IT) or the internet for day-to-day operations, profitability, and the ability to stay in business. The right technology is a crucial expense that facilitates business growth and protects your assets through business continuity. From natural disasters like floods to cybersecurity hacks like ransomware, much can go wrong and catastrophically disrupt your business continuity. The right IT solutions and structure help prepare your company for all these scenarios and provide other invaluable benefits.

1. Reduce Cybersecurity Risk

A devastating cybersecurity attack that forces your operations to come to a complete halt is extremely disruptive to business continuity. From costly ransomware to man-in-the-middle attacks, cybercriminals are only becoming more targeted and sophisticated in their tactics. Many businesses are unable to recover after being hacked due to:

• Financial Losses: Financial losses due to a cybersecurity attack can be significant. According to IBM, the average cost of a breach in 2023 was $4.45 million, and for many businesses, this can be a door-closing event. Costs may include regulatory fines, lost revenue, ransom fees, and more. If your business is entirely shut down due to a cybersecurity incident, you’re losing money by the minute.
• Business Disruption Costs: In the event of a cyberattack, your business might be entirely down for days, if not weeks. How long could you survive with a complete halt of operations? What if your full supply chain went down? Reliability is also a key factor in customer satisfaction and retention, so if they can’t access your system, website, or portal, you could face long-term consequences.

Loss of Customer, Stakeholder, and Shareholder Trust

Most consumers already distrust how organizations protect their data and sensitive information (with good reason!), and disruptions to business continuity make establishing and regaining trust difficult. While the exact level varies by industry, most consumers are skeptical about how companies handle consumer data. A high-profile data breach or attack heightens these concerns, and 87% of McKinsey survey respondents said they would not do business with a company if they had any concerns about their security practices.
Having the proper defenses in place reduces your risk of a damaging cyberattack. Proactive cybersecurity measures can help defend your business from:

• Supply Chain Attacks: As one of the most vulnerable and critical logistic systems, supply chain attacks are exploding in popularity, increasing by up to 633% within one year according to one survey. Supply chains are not only massively disruptive, they can also lead to long-term delays in business continuity and shut down operations for lengthy (end expensive) periods of time.
• Ransomware Attacks: Ransomware is one of the most popular cybercrimes, affecting 66% of organizations in 2023. During a ransomware attack, a hacker holds your data for ransom, refusing to release it unless your company pays. The problem? There is no guarantee your company’s data will be released even if the ransom is paid.
• Phishing and Human Error Incidents: A whopping 88% of data breaches are caused by human error, such as clicking on an email phishing scam. Phishing scams are meant to trick and manipulate employees into revealing sensitive information or logins and passwords. Security awareness training is the most effective method to help your employees be more resilient to these types of attacks and can be the first line of defense when it comes to business continuity.

2. Prevent Business Disruption

What would happen if your primary place of business flooded or was ravaged by a fire tomorrow? Unfortunately, many businesses would be unable to resume operations for a significant amount of time. The right IT infrastructure minimizes the impact of major business disruptions through:

• Backup and Recovery Strategy and Methods: Managed backup and recovery is a crucial way to ensure business continuity. These methods offer peace of mind and continuous protection of your systems and data. Backup files are safely and securely stored, and you can quickly restore systems from a clean backup after a cyberattack.
• Maximizing Uptime: It’s crucial that your most critical systems — such as your website or other platform — do not go down. Having resilient customer-facing solutions (like your app, website, and phone lines) that are always on and available helps preserve your business and reputation with customers. When you consider how to maximize uptime, take into account all of the tools that facilitate your business on a day-to-day basis: This should include at a minimum your phone systems, network, and internet connection.

With the right IT in place, a managed services provider can help mitigate disastrous business downtime and get you back up and running quickly. With an expert partner, your IT leadership can focus on revenue-generating motions and supporting employees and customers if something goes wrong. Let your managed IT provider fix the issues in the background.

3. Optimize Collaboration

The right IT facilitates collaboration in a dispersed world. Your team no longer needs to be in the same conference room to get things done. Online, cloud-based tools facilitate online file sharing, high-quality video and audio meetings, and other features like breakout rooms and whiteboarding that make it possible for dispersed teams to collaborate no matter where they are.

Transform IT From Expense to Asset in Business Continuity

Business continuity is critical to satisfied customers, trusting shareholders, and a collaborative work environment. IT doesn’t need to be a bulky line item that bogs down your budget. Turn IT into a true asset for your business. Work with TPx’s managed IT services to build and structure the right IT for your company while you focus on growth.  Get in touch with our team to learn more.