I write this today as a frustrated South African business owner yet take comfort in the fact that we are a proudly South African Technology company. As I look at the carnage around me, I see the broken door, smashed lights, open drawers and papers scattered across our office floor but I also look at the bewilderment, fear and shock in my staffs’ eyes – what just happened and what’s going to happen next I see them say silently.
Crime is a daily occurrence within SA and no-one is immune to it. Protecting ourselves, and our loved ones, is something we need to do on a daily basis. I could ask the “Why did this happen? Who knew where all our laptops were stored under lock and key? What drove them to do this?’ questions but where will that lead me? Down a dark rabbit hole of anger and frustration that will ultimately serve no purpose.
Fighting back the temptation of anger and frustration our Business Continuity Plan kicked in. As a Technology Business “If you can’t live it, then you should be selling it” they say 😊
After implementing a rotational “Work From Home” policy, ensuring our servers are hosted off-site, communicating through our hosted VoIP solution and with “almost zero disruption to clients” our business and staff continue to work efficiently through this fateful time. New laptop replacements were sourced and with O365, plus our cloud backup solution, all data and working files were accessible to staff immediately. Once the glass, doors, locks and paperwork is cleaned up business will resume and through technology, we have enabled our business to remain active despite activities like today.
As a family we will now spend time working on how we all feel and if there are any lingering emotional impacts. Open communication, support and encouragement will be promoted over the next few weeks so that this becomes a distant memory on no significance.
Stay safe out there and do what you can to protect yourself and your business but make sure you have a Business Continuity Plan in place – lost data can sink your business.!!
Regards
Shane Morrow
Owner
