Imagine while cooking, the clock is approaching noon but your burner goes out. You find that you have no extra gas-cylinder. But your kind neighbors come to the rescue and lend you a portable little cylinder so you can finish cooking on time.
What were you doing here? ?
You've created a workaround.
The temporary solution of restarting an interrupted process is a workaround. Having a workaround plan gives you a relief that even glorious victories cannot give. It saves you from major failures?
It is necessary to have workarounds for business processes.
But, think for a second, can you have a workaround for everything?
When your refrigerator breaks down, what do you do? You call the repairman and pay for maintenance. That’s right, you don’t have an alternative refrigerator (yes, you may have friendly neighbors, but you can't take them for granted). It makes little sense.
Likewise, you don’t have to have a workaround for every process in your business, just critical ones. Identify critical business processes that can severely impact your business if they fail.
Create a workaround plan for such processes.
Measure the turnaround time of repair for non-critical processes. If such a process has a long turnaround time you cannot afford, then plan a workaround for that process as well.
Creating a workaround plan is a temporary solution and can be a costly affair. However, it is very important to ensure business continuity and consistent customer satisfaction.
We all know how Covid has impacted businesses around the world. Those who have been able to find a workaround have survived, while others have closed their business completely. Zomato, a food delivery company, reports that 10-15% of restaurants have closed permanently. These restaurant owners could not develop a plan to remedy the situation. It‘s time to learn lessons from such examples and secure the future of our businesses.
