Business Continuity During COVID - Mission Critical (Interview with Krisztina Rolko, VP of Business Support, TalentWorldGroup Plc.)

Preparing for unforeseen disasters is difficult in the best of times. Today’s pandemic has caught many by surprise, especially businesses not prepared with their processes and digital infrastructure to weather such a calamity. Companies have been prewarned to get their proverbial house in order and safe-guard their business through disaster situations.

As a native cloud organization, TalentWorldGroup’s business relies on processes and technology for delivering services and managing their operation in the cloud. The expectations of their clients are to deliver high quality customer service, protected by premium security. Therefore, business continuity must not just be a disaster mitigation exercise but rather a part of a company’s DNA practiced consistently.

We ask VP of business support, Krisztina Rolko to share her experience with businesses continuity and how TalentWorldGroup has been able to execute their Business Continuity Plan (BCP) throughout the pandemic.

How has TWG’s Business Continuity Plan Performed During the Pandemic?

TWG’s business model, processes, and operation as a whole is built on working in the cloud from the very first moment. Our principle is that space and time are not obstacles and do not bind us. We can say that we one of the fastest to react with the disruption caused by the pandemic, because we did not need to move from a physical office to online space. With our unique infrastructure we were able to provide full service even at the peak of the pandemic.

Our business continuity plan is different than others, because we work in the cloud. Our BCP is based on the fact that all of our software used and cloud solutions, can be replaced with another cloud based software (with the same security parameters and features). Thus, with a broadband internet or a mobile internet connection and an adequate level of security, our business continuity is guaranteed 99.9% on 24/7 of 365 days a year.

What were the Key Learnings from Working Through COVID-19?

With the spread of COVID-19, companies had to be able to apply BCPs in real time and situations. However, we found in business that a lot of companies had to re-evaluate their business continuity, as immediate transitions to the home office did not go smoothly due to the entire corporate infrastructure being built on a physical presence. To change from a physical mindset to an online one is not an easy task. Remote accesses with the right level of security had to be set up, and workers had to be provided with the right infrastructure to continue working in the usual virtual environment and with security while WFH.

What are the Main Operational Processes of TWG to Protect the Company from this Type of Crisis?

We here at TWG use a server in a TIER III-certified server park from the beginning, which is also cloud-based. In this way our continuous work is ensured. As mentioned earlier, the processes and software used to do the work have been compiled to be all cloud-based, as are the redundant systems. All systems are kept up-to-date so that if we have to switch, it does not mean any disruption to our processes.

Does TWG’s Business Continuity Plan Evolve, or is it Static?

As market expectations change, so does our BCP. In this rapidly changing business structure, we can only meet the newly emerging expectations if we follow the changes, and current expectations constantly.

Are there Sufficient Backups for a Second Wave?

I can answer with a definite yes. We place special emphasis on monthly, quarterly and annual audits, during which the processes are all screened. In this case, it is mapped out whether the given process works with sufficient efficiency and whether we really use the most optimal systems and redundant systems.