VoIP phones could help in high-impact business interruptions

VoIP phones connected over a virtual private network could be one way to make business operations seamless to the outside world during a high-impact interruption.

By assigning specific extension numbers to VoIP phones wherever they may be, a company's communications network can be restructured if some of its employees are forced to work from a different location.

One example of this could be those firms facing transportation disruption due to the eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland.

James Crask, senior manager of business continuity services at PricewaterhouseCoopers, says the Eyjafjallajokull eruption took many companies by surprise, but this time around they may have revised their business interruption procedures.

"An increasing number of organisations are now beginning to consider how they might manage high-impact or low-probability risk, putting arrangements in place and turning lessons from previous events into improvements in capability," he explains.

Rather than plan specifically for volcanic eruptions, or floods, or wildfires, Mr Crask suggests anticipating the more general effects that any one of these could have.

For instance, he lists supply chain disruption and transportation problems as likely scenarios that could emerge from any one of a number of unlikely incidents.