Work at Home Strategies for Business Continuity

Several strategies are currently in use by organizations in the event of a disaster or emergency affecting the continuity of business operations. 

• One approach is to use an alternate site within the same organization already equipped to accomodate an infusion of staff during an emergency including computer equipment, office equipment and furniture.
• Another approach is to contract with a third party vendor to deploy assets which the company can utilize during a disaster.  These arrangements are typically shared with other organizations or dedicated for a single organziation.  The dedicated arrangements are obviously more expensive.
• Additionally, a company may cross-train employees located in another area of the company to take over responsibilities of a different department during a business interruption. 
• Some organizations do not have a planned strategy and intend to deal with the situation as it occurs.  If recovery time objectives (RTO) are more than a few days or weeks, this strategy may work.
• A quick ship strategy which involves contracting with a vendor to ship essential equipment and materials to a pre-planned location in the event of a disaster, is another strategy to consider.  If proper planning is employed, each computer can be imaged to meet that person's needs for the workplace.
• The most progressive and innovative program that many companies are using is Virtual Desktop Recovery (VDR) also called Work-At-Home Continuity.  The most effective version of this strategy uses a remote central server which runs all applications, programs, and data centrally.  Each employee is able to log on to this virtual server with any computer using the proper security protocol.  Some organizations use specially designed USB devices for this purpose.  This method retains the security within the central server and eliminates the need to install software on employees home computers.

Many strategies for business continuity are available for organizations to consider.  The size of the company,  the number of employees, the number of locations, the complexity and nature of operations and recovery time objectives are important considerations when selecting a strategy which is appropriate for the company.  The VDR option is being considered by many progressive companies as the most viable solution because it meets more of their business continuity objectives at a lower cost than the other available options.