Pittsburgh Business Times
Nothing highlights the urgent need for business continuity planning like a devastating, prolonged global pandemic.
Without question, this global pandemic has forced businesses, large and small, to face and adapt to a new normal. They’ve had to deal with state mandated closures, layoffs, employee safety threats, new remote work environments, cybersecurity concerns, supply chain interruptions, real estate lease adjustments, and a myriad of other serious business continuity challenges.
Many of those same issues will haunt the business community this year and possibly beyond, even amidst what one might hope would become a strong post-pandemic period of recovery. And that, said Don Bluedorn, managing shareholder and environmental attorney of Pittsburgh law firm Babst Calland, is why more businesses need to consider a longer-term view of their future – including adaptable disaster plans that take into account business continuity in times of unexpected disruptions.
Bluedorn spoke recently with the Pittsburgh Business Times about business continuity planning.
“This has been a unique year,” said Bluedorn, who not only advises businesses but also has had to confront the pandemic himself as chief executive of one of Pittsburgh’s largest law firms. “There’s an old saw that ‘tough times don’t last, but tough people and tough businesses do. And I think that’s certainly true during this pandemic and the difficult economic construct we all have had to face.”
Business Continuity: Pre- and Post-Pandemic
Of course, Bluedorn was quick to point out the importance of ongoing business continuity or disaster planning even without the cloud of a pandemic hovering overhead.
“A SWOT analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats still applies,” he said. “But I think people need to look more broadly than that now. …