Two men are stood having a discussion at the Regus 8th Middle East Business & IT Resilience Summit in Dubai

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“Companies must have testable workplace recovery plans”

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Brendan Seifried, Regus’ Director of Workplace Recovery Solutions, EMEA, explains how Regus can help Middle Eastern companies in times of crisis

 

Last month, Regus attended the 8th Middle East Business & IT Resilience Summit in Dubai.

Hosted by Regus partner Continuity and Resilience, the one-day conference attracted more than 130 senior professionals from within business continuity, crisis management and risk management sectors based in the Middle East. The aim was to enhance awareness and understanding of business continuity management systems throughout the region.

With more than 130 locations in the Middle East – including 12 in Dubai and eight in Abu Dhabi – it was important for Regus to have a presence as a thought leader, and to showcase its capacity to help regional businesses with their workplace recovery services.

Regus’s Director of Workplace Recovery Solutions, EMEA Brendan Seifried said: ““It has been  our second year at the summit and we’re already working on one or two enquiries that have since happened from the event.

“Many people know Regus as a serviced office company, but what is little known is that we actually provide business continuity services using our flexible workspaces.

“We also have a large real estate footprint in the Middle East, which again is not widely known so we’re trying to attend more global events to raise awareness.”

Seifried and the Regus team used the summit to spread the word about the use of Regus locations as “back-up offices” as part of a company’s recovery plan.

Leveraging 130 offices – which offer a total of 5,000 free desks on any given day – Regus helps businesses of all sizes get back to work faster if their regular offices are affected by vandalism, floods, fires, significant IT failures or other emergencies, giving them access to a world-class serviced office space in times of need.

“If a company didn’t have access to their primary office, there’s a very good chance that Regus would have an office in close proximity where they could quickly and easily continue their operations,” said Seifried. “Or, if there’s an area incident, and they needed to be further away, there’s a very good chance that Regus would also have a location nearby as well. This is what we call our Dynamic Workplace Recovery offering.”

A hot topic at this year’s summit was ISO 22301, an international standard that sets out requirements for companies’ business continuity management systems. 

Seifried gave a presentation about the value of workplace services in the Middle East, discussing the importance of complying to this standard.

“The challenges that companies have now is creating business continuity management systems that are aligned with the new law,” he said. “And the main point is that boards of companies must make sure a testable business continuity has been developed disaster recovery plans that mitigate all risks.”

With experience in putting together bespoke continuity plans for a range of companies, Regus can help businesses create workplace recovery solutions that are both compliant and right for their business needs.

 

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