What are the main challenges and benefits of remote work for BCP?

So we are talking about WFH as a BC solution, not as BAU situation. This needs to be an ingrained attitude. 1. this is not flexi timing/ working - please work according to office requirements 2. collboration is effective face-to-face, so video MUST be on (that I am at home, and I am not well groomed or I have a pet - must not be accepted)

One of the biggest challenges our team faced when working remotely was issues with the VPN and secure servers. There were instances where team members whose computers were hardwired into the network could work fine, while others who were working remotely could not connect through the VPN and therefore could not access any necessary documents or emails. Team members ended up either having to make late commutes into offices or find space at satellite locations and connect directly to the network. While remote work may mitigate physical disruption, technological disruption could be magnified.

The moment we make an arrangement to work away from office (remote/ home), we must record this as a risk also - the physical and information/ cyber security of office can never be matched at home or anywhere else. Also, an increased risk is of getting lured easily when we are away from office. So, 'insider risk' materialising becomes a higher likelihood.

One thing to think about & consider are the home network and facility impacts. In the office teams have high speed internet, typically dual ISPs and generators to keep buildings running. That is not something people have at home, which could ultimately impact productivity and performance. As a result, I've proposed people have different cell providers than internet providers so if your provider is out you have a backup to use in your hotspot. Additionally, we have seen latency & subpar performance from some remote folks due to their ISP speeds & quality. Consider building base level service requirements into your acceptable use or employee offers.

There is a big lesson to be learnt from the Covid-19 Pandemic. Almost all big companies in the world initially said that productivity had gone up - all are now asking employees to come back to the office! Rightly or wrongly, people tend to work extra long at home (because they are not commuting and have more time) - so output went up , not necessarily productivity. Also, there is the likelihood of a negative impact on the quality of work.

Repeating my initial thoughts, if we are talking about a Business Continuity situation due to people are working from home, the focus should be on doing the basic minimum by running only the prioritised (critical) processes. So, innovation etc. should be a secondary focus.

I ran a global study during the phase of the Covid-19 Pandemic. It threw out the challenges of WFH. An eye opener was the emotional impacts - home violence, divorces etc. all went up across the globe. Some countries set up special ministries to handle such situations. So, I now strongly recommend conductiong an EIA (Emotional Impact Assessment) of all BC Solutions that we put in place.

One of the benefits of remote work is the decreased impact of physical disruption on productivity. During the wildfires in 2023, our office was on a hybrid work schedule. I was the first one in the office and was able to send out photos of the city from our building's observation deck. The sky was sepia-toned from smoke coming into the city. The air quality in the building was fine due to the HVAC equipment, but rather than expose people commuting in, our team went fully remote for the next week or so until the air quality improved, with no disruption to productivity.

In my experience, remote work poses unique challenges and benefits for BCP training and testing. Challenges: - Ensuring consistent engagement during virtual training sessions can be difficult. - Testing collaboration tools remotely sometimes reveals gaps in preparedness. - Coordination across multiple locations often delays testing exercises. Benefits: - Flexibility in scheduling training sessions allows broader participation. - Testing remote work scenarios builds a more resilient BCP. - Online tools and simulations make training scalable and cost-effective. Balancing these factors ensures that training remains effective, even in a remote setup.