In the business infrastructure world, things can move very rapidly. Having to keep up with ever-growing company needs, compliance regulations, vulnerability patching, and problem resolutions keeps everyone on their feet and necessitates the ability to respond quickly and effectively. It’s one thing to keep up with all of this when dealing internally with the different stakeholders within your organization, but it’s another endeavor entirely when you have to start involving vendors and other external parties. When you have to engage with third parties for these types of emergency procedures that require quick turnaround times, it can be difficult for both sides, but there are some ways that you can make it easier for everyone. In turn, this leads to the whole process flowing more smoothly, and as one of my favorite sayings indicates, “Smooth is fast.”

Best Practices for Communicating with Vendors During Emergencies

1. Start Emergency Communication Early to Support Business Continuity

Early and proactive communication is always a good thing when planning out procedures or organizing multiple parties for the same work. This gets increasingly apparent the more urgent or short-term the planned work is. If you need people to be ready and able to help you with something, you need to communicate with them as soon as you can. This starts turning the organizational gears needed to align resources, nail down the specifics, and align on any paperwork or documentation that needs to be dealt with first. Depending on organizational requirements, some of these items absolutely have to be finished before any work can be done, so a longer delay in communication means a longer delay before the actual work that needs to be done can be started.

2. Communicate Truthfully to Improve Disaster Recovery Planning

Another one of my favorite sayings (I have many) is “Honesty is the best policy.” Honest communication is a cornerstone of effectively engaging with and organizing groups and maintaining healthy relationships. When you are communicating with external parties for these types of emergency procedures, it is crucial that, from the outset, you are being honest about what is needed and what level of priority the work is. If you understate it, then resources may not be aligned in time, paperwork may not get signed and stamped in the timeframe that you require, or additional costs or delays may be incurred. After all, how were they supposed to know without being told? On the other hand, if you overstate the urgency of the work, things may get done faster than they need to, and some items may fall by the wayside, causing complications further down the line. Additionally, if you state everything to be the highest priority regardless of whether or not it truly is, then your partners will be unable to discern the actual priority of any of the tasks, and when a high-priority emergency occurs, it may not be handled in a timely manner. Of course, you can’t tell everyone everything. Please take into account your security and compliance regulations when communicating externally, and it is more helpful to let the external parties know that you simply cannot tell them a piece of information than it is to secretly withhold it.

3. When to Call Instead of Email During Emergency Procedures

Email is a wonderful tool, and I would go as far as to say it is the backbone of the global business workspace. However, sometimes emailing just isn’t good enough. It can take a long time to hammer out details and plan for complex scenarios through emails, especially when time zone differences are in play. Hopping on even just a 1-hour call with the invested parties can save you upwards of several days of emailing back and forth. I also find that verbal conversation has a way of helping to recall and discuss smaller details that may not have made it into an email thread, and this helps to really build a comprehensive picture of what work needs to be done and when. Far too often, I’ve seen a request for a call be turned down, just to be followed by 30 (or more) emails back and forth that end up leading to a call being necessary. Imagine how much time you could save by carving out that little chunk of time to have it in the first place! Everyone gets aligned, everyone has all the information, and after that, you can email back and forth as little or as much as you need to iron out the smaller remaining details.

4. Treat Vendors as Partners to Improve External Emergency Collaboration

Organizing work between different teams, different branches in an organization, or different companies can be difficult. Everyone has their own workloads to consider, everyone has their own policies or procedures, and everyone has their own ideas of how to do the work. This is true in any scenario, and it is further exacerbated when there’s a sense of urgency hanging over everyone’s heads. This can often lead to frustrations between the different groups, as some may feel that the others are doing something the wrong way, are not being quick enough to respond, or aren’t properly hearing what you are saying. When you get into this state, it’s important to take a step back and remember that you’re not on different sides of the issue. Everyone wants to resolve the problem in the quickest and most effective way that they can. Your external partners are no exception to this, as they want to build and maintain a strong business relationship with you and make sure that they are meeting your needs and expectations. Everyone is simply trying to offer the best route that they are aware of to a successful outcome for everyone involved.

5. Stay Engaged to Complete the Emergency Response Process Smoothly

Once you are through the bulk of the work and the emergency has passed, the common reaction is to take a deep breath, sit back, and appreciate the moment. This is understandable, and there’s nothing wrong with celebrating a job well done, but you can’t let it distract or delay you from finishing strong. There’s usually going to be some paper that has to be filled out, some emails to be sent, or some spreadsheet that needs to be updated. Once you’ve taken your respite and realigned yourself, this work is best knocked out while the iron is still hot. This is especially true for your external vendors and partners, who are typically only involved for specific periods of the work relevant to the products and services that they provide for you. From their end, they may not be aware of when exactly everything is completed. It’s best to stay engaged with all involved parties through the entire process, from the first email sent to the last one crossed. Don’t make them have to chase you down for a week or two to know if everything was completed successfully. Go ahead and write that email to let them know the work is done, the storm has passed, and everyone can start tying up the little loose ends and close everything out.

Improve Business Continuity with Streamlined External Communication

The next time you have to run around to put out a metaphorical fire at the office and you need all hands on deck (even those who work on a different ship), try to remember these 5 points and put them into practice. You’ll see that everyone gets on board, organized, shipshape, and ready to sail much faster than if you had not, and this leads to a job that is done with speed and grace. This kind of workflow resonates in a positive way with everyone involved, and they will be both impressed and happy to work with a team that makes everything so streamlined. You may even get the best outcome possible, which is to inspire others to emulate the way that you have done the work because it was more effective than what they have been doing, and that is what we call strong leadership.

Ready to streamline your emergency communication and strengthen your disaster recovery strategy? Request a demo to see how SIOS can help you build a more resilient, coordinated response plan.

Author: Matthew Pollard, CX – SIOS Software Engineer, Team Lead

Reproduced with permission from SIOS