Travel Delays Highlight the Need for Virtual Team Strategies

Flights delayed for hours by Northeast storms - CNN.com 02/22/2008

We’ve been seeing headlines like this all winter, and we see them EVERY winter; even cavemen knew it was going to snow in winter. But the difficulties imposed on business travel have gone beyond the inevitability of weather delays (which aren’t even always weather events according to CNN 5 Things Airlines Won’t Tell You About Weather Delays), they are compounded by a floundering U.S. Airline industry. Consider this report from the AP wire released earlier this month:

2007 Airline Delays 2nd Worst EverFeb 6, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — A quarter of domestic flights failed to arrive on time in 2007 — the industry’s second poorest performance on record — and analysts say it is likely to get worse. More than 26 percent of commercial flights in the U.S. arrived late or were canceled last year as rising passenger demand and an industry preference for smaller planes intensified congestion in the skies and on runways. The air-travel logjam, reported Tuesday by the Department of Transportation, comes as a growing number of air traffic controllers near retirement age — a trend the controllers’ union says will magnify the problem.

Pile on top of all this lost time and frustration the rising cost of travel and it seems pretty clear that something, somewhere has to give. Putting into place some simple virtual office and virtual team strategies can not only serve as a business continuity plan when you or one of your people is stuck on the tarmac in the snow, they can also increase your organization’s communication and collaboration abilities while decreasing the amount of required travel every day.

Let’s face it, at least the cavemen adapted the way they worked to deal with the changes in their environment - it’s called evolution people. Isn’t it time we came in out of the cold?

To explore some of the premiere tools and services related to virtual teamwork download a FREE copy of The Anywhere Office Toolbox. We have been playing in this sandbox a long time and the Toolbox details the service providers we believe are the best in their respective businesses. Most of them offer free trials and special discounts.

Free Business Continuity Teleseminar for National Preparedness Month

This September marks National Preparedness Month 2007, a nationwide coordinated effort encouraging families to take simple steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses, and schools. During National Preparedness Month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is working with a wide variety of organizations to highlight the importance of emergency preparedness and promote community involvement across the nation through various events and activities.

This year each week of National Preparedness Month has a different focus. The second week of National Preparedness Month (September 9 - 15) focuses on business preparedness.

During this week ourselves and several other National Preparedness Month Coalition Members are hosting events and activities to help businesses get prepared. We invite you to take this opportunity to listen to a FREE hour long Audio Seminar we are offering called Riding the Storm Out: don’t wait until it’s too late to form a business continuity plan. We hosted this teleseminar and recorded it live during National Preparedness Month 2006 and features a panel of 4 small business experts discussing tools, strategies, and best practices relating to Business Continuity and Disaster Preparedness.

Beginning with National Preparedness Month and continuing until the end of this year, this hour-long seminar can be listened to on-line, on demand – or downloaded; there are also downloadable handouts and resources provided by each panelist.

For more information about National Preparedness Month visit http://www.ready.gov/america/npm07/

Free Business Continuity and Disaster Preparedness Teleseminar

Well it’s July and that means hurricane season in Florida, which is where we call home. The season lasts from June all the way through November (it’s not all paradise here in the land of Palm Trees!). For people living and doing business in Florida, hurricane season is an annual reminder of the importance of business continuity planning and disaster preparedness. No named storms made landfall here last season, but the two years before that caused catastrophic damage and derailed many businesses beyond just South Florida. Currently, a big concern for assistance organizations and authorities in Florida is that people suffer from what they call ‘hurricane amnesia”… in other words, because we went a season without any major storms, folks get complacent and aren’t as diligent about making sure they have supplies and a plan. Well, that’s true of business owners and managers just the same. So remember, the best time to prepare for any emergency is before it happens, and that’s not just true for South Floridians, there are many types of possible business disruptions or emergencies regardless of where you live and work.

Last year we got together a small panel of South Florida experts to discuss best practices, strategies, and tools related to business continuity, disaster recovery planning, and continuity of operations; we offered a free teleseminar in the interest of helping people figure out where to start and what they could do to protect themselves, even on a tight budget. The session went excellently and we not only participated in the presentation, we learned a great deal. We have decided to make an audio recording and the handouts from the teleseminar available for free download throughout the rest of this hurricane season.

Here’s a link to the audio and handouts for our free one-hour teleseminar “Riding the Storm Out”. In this teleseminar we discuss developing a solid disaster preparedness plan, choosing the right communication technology, as well as how to use home offices, virtual offices, and virtual teams to help ensure your business is ready to weather any storm (or interruption).

Make sure your business is prepared and listen in to this valuable audio program today!

Business continuity and disaster recovery teleseminar audio and handouts posted

I am pleased to announce that our free teleseminar yesterday on business continuity and disaster preparedness was a great success. We were joined by 3 panelists other than myself.
All the presentations were full of expert advice and suggestions on how to develop a solid business continuity plan for businesses of all size - from organizations to solo professionals. They also shared some excellent resources, tools, and websites.

We have posted the handouts and the audio from this event online at www.YouCanWorkFromAnywhere.com/beprepared/ so you can still benefit from this valuable information.

Please check it out and post any questions you have here or give us feedback. Enjoy!

Disaster Preparedness and Business Continuity

A few months ago Phil and I dedicated one of our radio shows to a discussion of business continuity and disaster recovery (show #3 to be exact, “Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail.”).

With hurricane season nearing its peak in the Southeast and news of continuing difficulties with projects like ‘The Big Dig’ in Massachusets, business continuity is a topic that many people are eager to learn more about. Well, the tools and strategies needed to conduct business as usual regardless of location is what The Anywhere Office is all about! So we’re going to delve in to this topic some more - and we figured, if 2 heads are better than one…

We have organized a panel of 4 South Florida experts and are offering a free teleseminar entitled: “Riding the Storm Out: Don’t wait until it’s too late to form a business continuity plan.” This isn’t just going to be a discussion about hurricane preparedness - it will be expert advice on how to develop a plan and systems to confront any contingency, regardless of whether you are an organization or a solo-professional.

Visit www.ycwfa.com/beprepared to get details about the panel, topics, and how to register.

Advice to help you weather any storm - from Office Depot

As we discussed in our radio show a few weeks back, disaster recovery and business continuity is about developing an effective response to a crisis - and preventing that crisis from becoming a full-fledged disaster. Having a sound contingency plan can enable your small business to successfully “weather” any storm - be that a hurricane, tornado or flood, as well as a technology disaster, such as a computer virus or a power outage that can happen at any time and without warning.

Check out this excellent resource compliments of Office Depot. It has lots of great information about disaster preparedness as well as a very useful downloadable brochure with tips and checklists to help you develop a strategy for this important business consideration.

Whitepaper on Remote Access and Business Continuity

On this weeks radio show we talked about business continuity and the role that remote access can play in organizations being prepared for workplace disruptions. Citrix Online (makers of GoToMyPC) was kind enough to supply us with a whitepaper they have written titled “Business Continuity: Managing a Workforce Disruption with Remote Access”

Here is a summary:

Although no one can say with certainty whether an avian influenza pandemic will occur, business continuity experts and government agencies stress the importance of preparing now. While most companies have focused much planning effort on protecting systems and workplace assets in the event of a loss of power or server failure, many haven’t planned how employees will continue working if they are confined at home for extended periods.

This paper describes how you can complete the missing part of your business continuity plans by using remote access to provide employees with access to information and resources during an unexpected disruption. Remote access, when planned properly, can reduce the risks to your business during a workforce disruption.

You can download the full whitepaper below.

Show #3: Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

This week we took a look at the differences between business continuity and disaster recovery as well as some strategies and technology to help you and your organization prepare. Thanks to Brian Donahoo from Citrix Online for joining us as our guest on the show.

If you missed the show you can listen in below or download the MP3 file.

Show # 3: Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail (Business Continuity in the Changing World of Work)

There are many potential obstacles that can interrupt a company’s ability to do business as usual: inclement weather, natural disasters, special events, transit strikes, and skyrocketing transportation costs just to name a few. Phil and Jason talk with Brian Donahoo of Citrix Online, makers of GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting, to explore how aspects of the digital lifestyle can address and overcome these obstacles. As the Zen proverb says . . . The obstacle is the path.

Here’s what we covered:

• News: VOIP makes phone system hurricane-resistant
• Tech Talk: Automating Backups (Second Copy and iBackup)
• Guests: Brian Donahoo, Vice President of Products and Services, Citrix Online
• Music: Music leading into breaks “Don’t Know Where I’m Going” compliments of Andy Simon

To listen to the show you can use the flash player below, download the MP3 file, or use one of the links for your preferred format:

• Listen with Windows Media Player
• Listen with Real Player
• Use the PLAY IN POPUP link below if you want to use our flash player and roam the web while listening.

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