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Premises, People and Privacy: the 3 key threats facing businesses today

SALM TEAM October 29, 2025

Threats to business continuity come in many forms, but they all share one common trait—their unpredictability. Still, businesses can prepare for disasters. As a business owner, you can equip your employees to stay up and running in the face of the three main risks to uninterrupted service: physical threats to brick-and-mortar premises, public health crises, and cyber attacks

No business is immune from the potential of physical threats to its infrastructure. Whether it’s building damage through fire, flooding, natural disasters or an unexpected utility outage, the impact on business operations and continuity, and the resulting productivity outages, can be severe. Research shows that more than half of such incidents now cost firms hundreds and thousands of rands, indicating that it’s vital to have a contingency plan in place.

One strategy for premises recovery is to be able to relocate in a timely manner. While emergency home working is one answer, not everyone will have the equipment and set-up required to work from home. Access to well-equipped, safe alternative workspaces provides peace of mind while replacing lost hardware or other equipment. With International Workplace Group (IWG’s) Workplace Recovery plans, businesses are able to recover and carry on as usual in times of crisis, with access to a global network of fully furnished, serviced workspaces in as little as four hours.

People: preparing for public health crises

The COVID-19 pandemic sharply focused on the potential impact of health crises, leaving many businesses to realise how unprepared they were to cope with the sudden sweeping changes required to combat the spread of the virus. The high cost to businesses due to staff sickness, empty office space, and supply chain disruption still impacts many, bringing home the need to better prepare for future crises.

“The most important thing is to get essential office sites back up and running as swiftly as possible and a useful solution is organising employees into smaller groups and working from a network of local workspaces. Whatever support you need, IWG can offer everything from working-from-home options to temporary coworking spaces to make this happen”, says Joanne Bushell, VP, IWG South Africa[GO1]

When the pandemic set in, the best solution that was universally incorporated was to provide workspaces close to the employees. This helped cut down commuting time and reduced exposure to viruses while providing fully equipped offices that offered collaborative working and helped lower stress levels.

Privacy – cyber threats and data security

It’s never been more critical for businesses to factor in and mitigate privacy risks due to cyber-attacks and data loss. Statistics show that ransomware attacks can result in an average of 23 days lost, with downtime and recovery costing firms an average of $1.85m.

Having access to IWG’s powerful IT infrastructure can make your clients’ businesses more resilient to cyber threats. When employees work from home, they may not have the security needed to maintain an appropriate level of privacy, but when they work from a shared workspace, they can do so safely in the knowledge that IWG’s secure, business-grade WiFi is regularly and vigorously tested as part of a £50m a year IT spend.

Building business resilience

In the uniquely South African situation where load-shedding is a regular event, sitting for hours without power to charge a laptop or maintain a basic internet connection can be maddening. As power utility Eskom has confirmed load shedding will continue for some time, and people are unable to operate under these conditions, leading to a backlog of work and a decrease in overall productivity. [GO2]

‘We are seeing employees flock to our flexible workspaces to use our set-up, which is designed to maintain power through load-shedding. These centres offer much more than just office tools and supplies. They provide a service that improves the way people live, and the strategy to position them in suburban centres now provides the basis for a simpler life-work balance”, says Joanne Bushell, MD, IWG, South Africa.

The ever-present threat of premises damage, blackouts, health crises, and cyber-attacks makes a robust recovery plan essential to any business. As a leader, you can ensure business continuity plans by providing employees access to a global network of workspaces and bespoke workplace recovery plans tailored to their needs.

Learn more about how IWG Workplace Recovery Plans, which will ensure your business continues to thrive when trouble strikes. Contact us today to speak with one of our experts.

About IWG PLC 

IWG is the global leader in hybrid work solutions and workspace brands. We create personal, financial, and strategic value for businesses of every size. From some of the most exciting companies and well-known organizations on the planet to individuals and the next generation of industry leaders. All of them harness the power of IWG’s hybrid working platform to increase their productivity, efficiency, agility, and market proximity. IWG’s unrivalled network coverage includes approximately 4,000 locations across more than 120 countries and 83% of Fortune 500 companies are amongst our growing customer base.

Through our brands including Regus, Spaces, HQ and Signature, we help millions of people and their businesses to work more productively. We do so by providing the world’s leading hybrid work platform with professional, inspiring and collaborative workspaces and digital services all available via the IWG app.

For more information Visit www.iwgplc.com and for more information on partnering with IWG, see: https://www.iwgplc.com/develop-a-location