Summer often means a slowdown in business, well-deserved holidays and a chance to switch off. However, going on holiday without properly preparing for your absence can quickly lead to stress, both for you and for your staff or customers.
A few simple steps will allow you to leave the office with peace of mind and ensure business continuity whilst you’re away. Here’s our special SME checklist.
1. Inform your customers, partners and staff
Good communication is essential to avoid misunderstandings and maintain a high standard of service.
Before you leave:
- Update your company’s opening hours on your website, social media and Google Business Profile.
- Let your customers, suppliers and partners know when you’ll be away or what your revised opening hours are.
- Set up an out-of-office message in Outlook or your email system.
- Add your holiday dates to your shared calendar so your staff can see when you’re unavailable.
- Clearly state the name and contact details of the person covering for you.
2. Ensure business continuity
A successful holiday depends on good preparation in advance.
Remember to:
- Appoint a stand-in for any ongoing projects.
- Organise a handover meeting to pass on important information.
- Identify the situations in which you really need to be contacted whilst on holiday.
- Arrange for any on-call or standby duties if your role requires it.
- Set aside time before you leave to finalise any last-minute urgent tasks.
3. Centralise information
One of the main challenges during holidays is accessing the information needed to keep the business running smoothly.
To avoid bottlenecks:
- Upload important documents to a secure shared folder.
- Check that the relevant people have the necessary access rights.
- Centralise procedures, key contacts and operational information.
- Use collaborative tools such as Microsoft 365, SharePoint or Teams to ensure access to data wherever your teams are based.
Accessible documentation enables everyone to work efficiently, even in your absence.
4. Delegate access and responsibilities
Before you leave, ensure that your cover has the authorisations they need:
- Access to business applications.
- Access to shared folders.
- Management of emails or functional mailboxes.
- Approval of payments or orders where necessary.
- Management of post or any administrative requests.
Well-prepared delegation prevents disruptions and minimises disturbances whilst you’re on holiday.
5. Plan for your return
Getting back into the swing of things is often just as important as leaving.
Before your holiday, set aside some time in your diary to:
- Sort through emails received whilst you were away.
- Identify priorities.
- Arrange a follow-up meeting with your cover.
- Get important projects back on track.
This will enable you to resume your work more quickly and with greater peace of mind.
What if your phone system could keep working whilst you’re away?
Holidays are also a good opportunity to check that your communications system is flexible enough to support your teams’ mobility.
With CloudPBX with Cisco Webex, business calls can be easily forwarded to a colleague, a team or a smartphone. Staff retain access to their work number, colleagues’ availability, voicemail and collaboration tools, wherever they are.
The result: your customers remain well looked after, your teams can be reached when necessary, and you can enjoy your holiday with greater peace of mind.
Because a well-connected business is one that keeps running, even when its teams are on holiday.
Unified communications with Cisco Webex – DEEP
