Our business continuity planning in action: what do you need to know as a client?

The pandemic and a full-scale war have changed the way our team strategizes in business. However, we believe that these challenging times have made Geniusee even stronger and have given us the opportunity to streamline internal operations and unify our team.

As a client, you probably have some concerns before starting to cooperate with us, considering our geolocation and the problems that can follow. However, Geniusee's management makes everything possible to stay a reliable partner that helps bright minds turn their tech ideas into reality. 

The purpose of this article is to guide you through our main business continuity planning actions and provide you with answers to the most common questions that may concern you.

In this article:

BCP at Geniusee: What is it, and how does it serve us?

We see BCP as a roadmap that helps us prepare for and adeptly respond to unexpected events that could affect our business operations. 

The goal of our BCP is to define precisely how the company will coordinate the recovery of critical business functions within the set timeline. The BCP includes, among other information, precise actions to be taken and responsible roles for executing them. 

In this manner, we have outlined strategies to address a variety of potential challenges, including:
— Unauthorized access to the systems

— Cloud service failure or data loss 

— Datacenter  outage

— Power outage

— Cyberattacks

— Office incidents

— Political instability

— Pandemic

— Military actions

— New laws or regulations

With the beginning of the full-scale war, we promptly reviewed and expanded our BCP plan to meet the demands of those times. Particularly, we added:

• A plan for evacuating employees and their families from affected areas.
• Clear communication channels for employees to receive updates on the situation and instructions.
• Enhancement of data security measures and backups.
• Relocation of key operations to ensure continuity.
• Cross-training initiatives and documentation updates.

These timely planned actions helped us keep interruptions to a minimum in 2022, and after that, we even enhanced them. Now, it is fully operational, has offices in several countries (NATO members), and continues to create projects with our clients.

Our approach to BCP implementation

Our BCP action plan at Geniusee is built upon these foundational principles:

Flexible timing and support. As we are dealing with uncertain events, we keep the timing of our BCP implementation highly flexible. Our goal is to ensure safety and assistance for our employees in specific times of need. 

Business continuity. We have planned our initiatives with this goal in mind to keep Geniusee trouble-proof and fully operational. Our team is constantly monitoring potential risks and working on a strategy for implementing action points in case of their occurrence.  This approach helped us withstand a full-scale invasion and quickly resume 100% of our work processes.

Possible concerns we are ready to dissolve

Despite our prompt efforts, there are still uncertainties about the future of the war. Questions and concerns may still trouble our stakeholders. A few such concerns are below, so see how exactly we would resolve them.

Plan of action if Ukraine were to lose the war or if the war were to break out in Kyiv?

First and foremost, we at Geniusee stand firmly with Ukraine. We're doing everything we can to support our country, including charity and volunteering efforts.

However, we also understand the importance of being prepared for any situation. That's why we've already taken proactive steps to ensure business continuity:

• We've already strategically relocated key operations to our Lviv office in western Ukraine, a region considered safer from the current conflict. 
• If the situation escalates significantly, we have a swift plan to relocate all critical operations abroad. We will extend operations in Poland and other countries. This action will keep the business operations running smoothly even in the most challenging circumstances.
• The company will also activate the pre-designated evacuation plan. We will move employees and their families to a safer location abroad.

By taking these precautions, we aim to:

Maintain operations. We're committed to helping our clients without interruption.

Protect our employees. Their safety and well-being are our top priority.

If Russia occupied Ukraine, how would it impact ongoing projects?

The situation in Ukraine is complex. While we remain hopeful for Ukraine's victory, we've also developed a plan to ensure the continuity of our operations in case of a change in the government.

We've developed contingency plans to ensure our work doesn't stop. This includes a backup plan to relocate key operations and the company itself abroad if necessary. We've already researched and chosen a new location that meets all legal and regulatory requirements so we can seamlessly transition and operate in full compliance with the local laws.

Throughout this process, we'll maintain open and transparent communication with our clients and work closely with them to ensure a smooth transition and continued progress, regardless of our physical location.

What if there's major trouble with electricity or other resources because of the war?

Geniusee extends its commitment beyond Ukraine, maintaining offices in Poland and the USA.
In Ukraine, our policy ensures operational continuity with secure technology infrastructure and flexible work arrangements. We have backup power (generators) in our offices and encourage remote work among our employees, supporting them with necessary work tools. That way, our team will be able to keep workflow uninterrupted.

While we currently benefit from a stable electricity supply in Ukraine, we remain prepared for potential escalations in the situation. In such events, our plan entails:

• Activating an emergency response team to assess the situation and communicate with employees.
• Identifying and prioritizing critical business functions requiring immediate power.
• Using on-site generators for critical functions.
• Reviewing and updating communication plans to keep employees informed of developments.

What if internet connectivity is cut off?

• We continuously back up all of our project documentation. There is also an option to substitute any expert with the same level if a person gets offline. A sizable part of our staff is now in Europe, where the situation is stable. 
• The Ukrainian part of the team has access to multiple internet channels. We can also use Starlinks.

What if the team is physically destroyed and the project stops?

• Geniusee’s management has taken every possible step to prevent this risk. We stay in touch with every employee daily and regularly update our relocation plan according to the current situation to prevent all risks.
• We’ve implemented a comprehensive data backup strategy. Our databases with critical project data are located abroad.
• We ensure all necessary documentation, including data storage agreements and security protocols, is in place and accessible in multiple ways. 
• Our offices are equipped with stable Internet access and can be fully used during blackouts in order to keep work processes going.
• We have established clear communication channels to swiftly disseminate safety protocols and emergency procedures to our team in case of any unforeseen events.

What is if your current developers are conscripted or volunteer for military service?

Given that the IT sector is a crucial export industry in Ukraine, maintaining its functionality is vital for sustaining the economy. IT professionals are considered low-priority for conscription at the legal level. Right now, Geniusee is actively working to secure reservations for eligible employees who may be subject to conscription.

Moreover, at Geniusee, 70% of our team is comprised of women, along with men under 25 who are not subject to conscription and individuals from outside Ukraine. So, further potential risks associated with conscription are low. However, we actively monitor the situation to anticipate issues and know how to respond to them in a timely manner. 

The company recognizes the potential impact of the ongoing war on the composition of our development team. To mitigate any disruptions and guarantee the continuity of important development operations, we have implemented the following measures:

• We’ve already implemented a cross-training program to ensure that critical skills are not concentrated on a single developer. That way, if someone is missing due to military service, the remaining developers can still handle core functionalities and keep things running smoothly.
• Our teams also have thorough documentation of our source code. This makes it simpler to bring new developers up to speed or for existing team members to learn new skills.

Data security and what if Geniusee loses all the data?

We adhere to ISO 27001 standards to safeguard client data. Our practices include the use of VPN and cloud-based infrastructure, ensuring that your data remains secure and resilient in the face of potential war-related or other unforeseen scenarios.

Moreover, we keep our data on European cloud servers instead of any physical server to make it even safer. So, losing all the data is not possible in our case, it’s completely secured.

Additionally, we have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan in place. This plan outlines the steps we would take to quickly restore our systems and data in the event of a server outage, cyberattack, or other unforeseen event.

Final words

Our BCP includes different plans for different possible events. However, implementation depends on the magnitude and type of the event. 

It's crucial for us to stay ahead in protecting our operations. We regularly check and update our BCP to deal with any problems we spot. This helps us stay strong and flexible, ready to face any challenges that come our way. By keeping a close eye on things and being prepared, we can handle disruptions well and keep our business safe.