Business Continuity Saves Businesses

David Byrd : Raven Call
David Byrd
David Byrd is the Founder and Chief Creative Officer for Raven Guru Marketing. Previously, he was the CMO and EVP of Sales for CloudRoute. Prior to CloudRoute, He was CMO at ANPI, CMO & EVP of Sales at Broadvox, VP of channels and Alliances for Telcordia and Director of eBusiness development with i2 Technologies.He has also held executive positions with Planet Hollywood Online, Hewlett-Packard, Tandem Computers, Sprint and Ericsson.
| Raven Guru Marketing http://www.ravenguru.com/

Business Continuity Saves Businesses

It seems obvious that if a company can survive an unforeseen circumstance, that it will thrive as a commercial entity. However, as logical as that thought is, only 52% of small businesses claim to have a business continuity plan, and only 28% say they have reviewed it recently to ensure it is up to date and still effective. Moreover, according to the Insurance Institute of Business & Home Safety, 25% of businesses forced to close following a major event such as 9/11 or Hurricane Sandy do not reopen.

When it comes to understanding the risks associated with not having a continuity plan, small businesses lag their larger counterparts. AT&T’s 2012 Business Continuity Study found that 86% of companies with annual revenues exceeding $25 million have a business continuity plan in place. That is not surprising given the loss of revenue larger businesses face. According to Forrester, the average cost per hour of service disruption for mid-size to enterprise businesses is $110,000, and a typical interruption event costs more than $1.5 million.

So, whether you are selling to SMBs or enterprises, emphasizing how Hosted Unified Communications can support an overall business continuity plan is important. Additionally, those businesses without a plan should find the added benefit of maintaining their communications throughout a service disruption without any added cost a major benefit. Hosted UC provides the ability for the employees to continue to communicate from home or any location with wireless access, just as they would from the office. Customers would not need to dial cell phone or emergency numbers to contact customer service or sales. All communications continue to function as if the office was still up and running, and, in a way, it is. Finally, it is worth noting that a business is subjected to service disruptions far less major than national or regional catastrophic events. Power failures, broken water pipes or health epidemics can shut a SMB or regional office just as hard. Therefore, a business continuity plan should cover any type of potential disruptive event.

Utilizing Instant Messaging, Presence, Mobility and Collaboration from a Hosted UC offering and, perhaps, some managed services for off-site data storage and mission critical applications, will ensure your customers’ businesses function as expected. Without it, they can expect the following:

  • 43% of businesses that close as the result of a natural disaster never reopen. (U.S. Congress)
  • 75% of companies without business continuity plans fail within three years of a disaster. (Crisis Management International)

To quantify: Without Hosted UC for crisis communications – Total Loss. With Hosted UC delivering communications during a crisis to support standard business processes and functions – Total Win.

 

 

 



Feedback for Business Continuity Saves Businesses

Leave a comment

Featured Events