Lessons learned in small- and medium-sized businesses for ensuring efficient and resilient IT that is able to react quickly to external crises
In early 2020, the unexpected happened: An airborne virus emerged that conquered the world within weeks. It resulted in a widespread pandemic — and on its destructive path, it uprooted established business workflows worldwide. Konica Minolta immediately shifted its operations from working in the office to complete remote working within days — this affected more than 9,000 employees in Europe alone. Businesses around the world were forced to do the same, and some—like Konica Minolta—fared better than others. The pandemic was a stark reminder of how volatile our everyday work reality can be in the wake of external crises and disruptions. They do not have to come in the form of a global crisis, however; local incidents limited to a region, an industry, a single company, or even individuals within a team are in fact far more likely. Such incidents nonetheless also have the potential to cause significant disruptions to large, medium-sized and small businesses alike. With such a multitude of potentially disrupting scenarios, is it even possible to prepare for such events? When it comes to IT, the short answer is: yes, if you have a resilient, secure and flexible IT and a trusted partner that provides quick and swift reaction. Another added benefit: As well as preparing businesses for crises, these measures can also help achieve efficiency gains.
"There are external shocks that you can see coming in advance and that allow for some 'last-minute preparations' — but others strike completely out of the blue", says Olaf Lorenz, Senior General Manager Digital Transformation Division, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe: "In either case, when it comes to IT, being generally prepared for potential issues is the best way to secure a more favourable outcome.
Scenarios for such disruptions can also have a large geographic fallout,

Yoann Fortini highlights that this does necessitate extra costs. "Efficiency and efficacy are key to not unnecessarily burdening your organisation". In many cases, synergies can be achieved by using modern digital processes to help improve an organisation's efficiency and prepare it for potential crises at the same time.
Being prepared for remote working is a perfect example: Not only does it allow employees to flexibly work from any external location—be it from home or from a customer’s premises—it also makes it possible for them to continue working even if the office is inaccessible for any reason. "Had the current pandemic struck a mere decade earlier, its impact on businesses around the world would have been far more devastating", says Olaf Lorenz. Luckily, many organisations like Konica Minolta already had remote workplace solutions that allowed for their knowledge workers to seamlessly continue their work from home, with no or only minor interruptions. It does not take a full-blown global pandemic for businesses to imagine the value of remote work with regard to external shocks — examples can be as mundane as a hefty snowstorm or a workers' strike in public transportation. In addition, the ability to work remotely can provide highly valuable flexibility if personal circumstances require an employee to change work routines. If the employee is suddenly required to take care of a relative, for example, remote work can help them bring together personal responsibilities and work. "Unfortunately, such a scenario is not uncommon and can in fact cause significant disruptions in organisations. Here, the ability to work remotely can be a huge relief both for the employee and the company. As there is an ongoing shortage of skilled labour, this benefits the company by allowing it to keep a valuable employee working", Olaf Lorenz explains.

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It is possible to effectively protect premises from unauthorised access using modern, state-of-the-art smart video monitoring devices, he explains: "At Konica Minolta Supplies Manufacturing, S.A.S, our production site for toners in France, we had a problem with theft on several occasions at the facility. We were able to effectively resolve this issue with our Mobotix smart video solutions DualDome D15 and M15 thermal cameras for day and night monitoring and M25 and V25 high performance lenses. These measures significantly improved security on-site." This exemplifies the fact that break-ins and burglaries are not a risk that a business simply has to accept — there are effective counter-measures available at an affordable cost.
Resolution: What to do when an external crisis hits an SMB
A lot can be done to prepare for external crises and mitigate their impact. Yet, it is in the nature of such crises to strike at an unexpected time or take on forms that cannot be anticipated. The current pandemic is probably the best example of this. Even with capable IT, quick reaction is key to successfully navigating such incidents. Depending on the incident itself, external IT support can provide a helping hand in swiftly resolving the issue at hand. "Take disaster recovery as an example", says Yoann Fortini: "When one of our customers loses access to its data, for example due to fire in one location, a managed backup solution allows us to immediately recover the data required to quickly continue work from a different location with minimal process interruptions. Our local support teams are there to step into action immediately."
A long-term trusted IT service partner is a valuable asset, even under ordinary circumstances. In times of crisis, however, an expert partner with a profound understanding of the company, its work processes and its IT setup can make a decisive difference to the fate of the entire business. "I highly recommend finding such a partner early on. Even if a service partner such as Konica Minolta is happy to provide fast support to a new customer in need as well — in such a situation, time is of the absolute essence. I would argue that this is probably the most important preparation step of all: Having a partner you can quickly turn to in such situations", Yoann Fortini states.
This can also be the case if a team member in a company responsible for IT suddenly becomes unavailable, for example due to a sudden illness, or simply because they leave the company. With the skilled labour shortage in IT, this can quickly become a significant issue for a small- or medium-sized company, as they tend to have only one or two employees responsible for their entire IT setup. A managed service partner such as Konica Minolta can then quickly take over even business-critical IT tasks, provide an IT helpdesk for employees and so on.


[1] Sophos, State of the ransomware Report (2020):
https://secure2.sophos.com/en-us/content/state-of-ransomware.aspx#formFrame