How Telecommuting Can Play a Key Function in Enterprise Continuity

The winter of 2017-2018 dropped greater than 190 inches of snow on Erie, Pennsylvania, the hometown and namesake of Erie Insurance coverage. In in the future throughout the week of Christmas, 65 inches fell. Roads and companies had been pressured to shut… however at Erie Insurance coverage, many groups didn’t skip a beat.

Sombath Inthavong, a product score and analytics supervisor at ERIE, was part of one of many groups that had been capable of keep on with enterprise as standard. How? By deploying a enterprise continuity plan.

Inthavong and his group telecommuted that whole week, bypassing the necessity to courageous the weather and conserving ERIE operating easily. Telecommuting allowed the group to keep up enterprise capabilities with out interruption.

“Preparation is the important thing to success,” mentioned Inthavong, who facilitated observe drills along with his group properly earlier than the snow began falling. “Our group had practiced totally different eventualities all year long, so when the time got here to place our enterprise continuity plan in place, we had been prepared.”

Your clients will usually count on you to be open for enterprise and out there regardless of important challenges. Listed below are some concerns for telecommuting safely and easily:

1. Make a plan. Think about mission-critical capabilities to what you are promoting, potential eventualities that might derail them, and different plans reminiscent of telecommuting. Climate occasions, energy outages, native warnings or private issues reminiscent of household emergencies are some examples of situations during which you propose to ask your staff to telecommute. Undecided the place to begin? Prepared.gov gives enterprise continuity planning templates, methods, group workout routines, and extra.
2. Observe makes excellent. Run by way of probably eventualities and take a look at methods during which your group shall be notified, reminiscent of through e-mail or a textual content or name tree. “Getting confirmations from everybody in a well timed method will be tough, so be sure to consider that timing to your plan,” Inthavong mentioned.Think about how lengthy it might take to tell your group to allow them to plan accordingly and put together to telecommute when it’s not only a drill.
3. Put together the house workplace. Even should you and your staff shall be telecommuting on a restricted, as-needed foundation, you’ll probably want the identical instruments as full-time telecommuters. A couple of key components to contemplate is having satisfactory Web pace and pre-programming any crucial video conferencing or knowledge and file sharing platforms. Learn this associated weblog article on establishing a house workplace to examine all of your ready-to-telecommute bins.
4. Name in reinforcements. Having a enterprise insurance coverage coverage with ERIE additionally means having the help of ERIE’s threat management consultants. A advisor can carry out a threat evaluation at your administrative center that can assist you establish hazards and potential causes of enterprise interruptions. What you be taught from the evaluation will be utilized to what you are promoting continuity plan.
5. Begin at present. Get began on what you are promoting continuity plan to avoid wasting your self from misplaced productiveness and earnings. Attain out to your native ERIE agent to ensure what you are promoting insurance coverage covers telecommuting from a house workplace. 

Some stuff you simply can’t anticipate (that’s why we’re right here!) however others are made simpler with preparation. After we say we’re with you, we imply you’ve got our undivided consideration if you want it. At ERIE, we’re right here to grasp what you are promoting, anticipate future wants, assist when issues go flawed, and get you again to enterprise instantly.