Flexible working and business continuity

Bharat Thakrar, head of business continuity, BT Global Services, provides some advice for those new to the subject.

Competition, regulation and other predictable challenges make business tough enough, but at least they affect all companies equally. What can really bring an organization to its knees are the unpredictable and highly selective ‘acts of God and man’ – floods, fires, terrorist attacks and the like – that have the potential to cripple a business while leaving its competitors unscathed.

The real issue is not simply an increasingly threatening external environment. Rather it’s the combination of external threats and the potential ‘fragility’ of some modern business systems. Both efficiency and customer focus – essentials in modern business – are highly dependent on the uninterrupted availability of computing and communications systems.

So what can be done? The obvious answer is ‘be prepared’ – think about what can go wrong and how your business might respond. As Gartner has observed, “Every enterprise should have a minimal plan in place to protect business operations in the event of reasonably anticipated threats”. Less obviously, but crucially, you also need to adopt flexible working practices – not just because employees increasingly expect them, but because they make your business much more resilient to disruptive events, large and small.

The key concept here is flexibility. As any wrestler will tell you, if you tense your muscles and lock your joints, you’re much easier to push over than if you adopt a more flexible posture. It’s the same in business. If your business systems require people to be in specific places to do specific things, then they won’t be able to function when those places are unavailable or inaccessible. The good news is that, just as information and communications technology (ICT) is often credited with the ‘death of distance’, so, properly deployed, it can end the ‘primacy of place’ – the crucial impediment to flexible working.
The toolkit of flexible working technologies includes three basic components: secure remote access to company systems, so that staff can continue to work; access to office phone lines, so that staff continue to receive their calls; and conferencing, so that people can continue to meet. Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Contrary to popular myth, accessing corporate networks from outside the office doesn’t have to mean an increased threat to key systems and data. Provided users are properly authenticated and encryption is used to prevent eavesdropping, then security is not an issue. In practice, well established networking protocols with the ability to address both requirements are readily available. Using them, staff can access the IT systems they need to do their jobs not just when they are in a company office, but from a host of other locations – homes, hotels, temporary offices and so on.

Those IT systems and the networks that connect them must themselves be resilient, of course. If the applications and databases employees need exist only on computers in buildings affected by problems that have forced them to find other places to work, the option to connect remotely could be of very limited use. This factor alone is a significant reason for businesses to consider outsourcing the operation of networks and data centres. Those offering such services commercially typically build in much greater levels of resilience.

Much the same applies when it comes to maintaining access to phone services. Here, IP telephony is the most flexible and resilient solution. The big difference between IP telephony and the ‘plain old telephone service’ we’re used to is that calls are no longer carried, point to point, in an unbroken stream along the equivalent of fixed wires; instead, telephone conversations are ‘bundled up’ into packets and shipped across the internet much like packets of data. The bundling is done by a computer, equipped with a microphone, speakers and the necessary software, or by IP phones, which implement the same functions in a handset resembling a conventional phone.

The significance of IP telephony for flexible working is that it ends the fixed relationship between a line and a phone number. Instead, users can make any phone their own simply by logging in. And they can do this from any location that offers an IP connection to the corporate network – another office within the corporate headquarters, regional offices, wireless hotspots, or even employees’ homes. Suppose a fire closes your head office, or a major motorway accident prevents key staff driving to work – with IP telephony you can still be in business. Staff forced to work from home or go to another office will still be able to make and receive calls as if they were at their own desks.

Finally, although generally marketed as a means of saving on the cost of business travel, audio, web and video conferencing really come into their own when a disaster makes travel very much more difficult. The classic examples are post 9/11, when US civil flights were suspended, and after the 7/7 attacks in London, which left many uncomfortable about using the tube.

As for IT systems, organizations should give very careful consideration to using services hosted on an operator’s network rather than in their own premises. As a rule, network operators design their infrastructure to deliver very high levels of availability, and, increasingly, are factoring in the likelihood of potential disasters when deciding where to locate new installations.

But flexible working isn’t just about anticipating disasters. It’s also an excellent approach to business management in its own right, helping to create leaner, fitter and more responsive organizations. Hot desking, which IP telephony makes very much easier to implement, reduces the demand for office space, the freedom to work from home can improve worker satisfaction, and conferencing can reduce business travel budgets by millions of pounds.

In BT, the majority of our 110,000 employees are now equipped to work flexibly, and do so as a matter of routine. This in itself is important: familiar with the technologies and services they need to connect from an array of different locations, they aren’t phased if they can’t get to a particular location.

The message here is clear. Like any other business continuity strategy, it’s important that flexible working is well-rehearsed. A sudden – and likely wholesale – change to an unfamiliar way of working will create problems all of its own.

And flexible working isn’t just about mastery of a specific set of technologies. For it to work well, a wide range of factors must be addressed – supply chain management and health and safety compliance, for example – and its introduction often needs to be accompanied by a thoroughgoing top-to-bottom programme of cultural change.

Firms must also ensure they have addressed both the technical and human factors sides of security. Flexible workers may need to carry valuable corporate data with them, and this obviously needs to be protected against theft and accidental loss. Staff need not just to be told but to understand what they need to do to protect their business and its assets. Power-up password checking should be forced on, measures like encryption implemented and, depending on what’s involved, the ability to remotely ‘kill’ lost devices might also need to be considered. Either flexible working solutions are secure or they shouldn’t be deployed.

Set out like this, the challenges may sound daunting. But don’t be put off. Across the world, enterprises large and small have demonstrated that flexible working is both good for business as usual and an excellent form of disaster insurance. As a strategy for business management, it’s a true win-win option. No organization can afford to ignore it.

BT is exhibiting at Infosecurity Europe 2009, held on 28th – 30th April in its new venue Earl’s Court, London. The event provides a free education programme and exhibitors showcasing new and emerging technologies and offering practical and professional expertise. For further information please visit www.infosec.co.uk

•Date: 27th February 2009• Region: UK/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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