Whatever the reason, your business has stopped running the way it normally does and so has your phone system.  Can you afford not to be able to carry on talking to your callers?  The issues that face you are:

• How long is the crisis likely to last?
• When do you start your Disaster Recovery plan, if you have one?
• How quickly do you need to restore telephone communications?
• How easy is it to put in place a telephone Continuity Plan?
• What are the system and cost implications of such a plan?
• Will it really work?

There is no single answer to any of these questions, but one thing that is definite is that, without inbound telephone communication capability, your business will suffer. But whatever Business Continuity plan you have, there have to be some outcomes that are non-negotiable.  These are:

• Minimising the impact on customer and supplier confidence through the loss of telephony services
• The change over to a Continuity Plan has to be quick, simple and not dependent on any current mainstream technology
• It has to handle internal as well as external telephone contact issues
• It has to be cost effective
• It must not require resources from IT and have minimum impact on Management’s time

The Continuity Service deals with all the issues and outcomes as it:

• Provides an automated, accurate, simple to use Continuity solution
• Is a Managed Service that is quick to implement, so there is no need for additional hardware or software, either on or off-site
• Can be activated within minutes using only a mobile phone
• Delivers a professional, friendly welcome to all callers and when the caller asks for the person they want to speak to by name or department, the call is immediately transferred to the right recipient
• Is very cost effective, gives no management issues and does not have any impact on any of your IT or Telecoms systems