Insights
When Trust is Breached: Why Brands Must Rethink Business Continuity in the Age of Cyberattacks
In recent weeks, several well-known UK businesses have been impacted by cyberattacks, exposing vulnerabilities not only in their technical systems, but in their customer response infrastructure.
While security teams work behind the scenes to restore systems and assess damage, the most immediate and visible fallout is often elsewhere: in overwhelmed contact centres, on social media, and in the inboxes of concerned customers left in the dark. In these moments, a brand’s response isn’t just a matter of process – it’s a test of its promise.
The Real Risk Isn’t Just the Breach – It’s the Breakdown in Communication
Most business continuity plans are built around systems and logistics. But in today’s climate, where customer expectations are shaped by immediacy and transparency, continuity of communication must be treated with the same urgency as continuity of operations.
When incidents strike, customers don’t wait. Contact volumes surge. Channels like voice, live chat and social fill up fast. Internally, staff may be under-resourced or unable to access critical systems. Without a plan for customer-facing resilience, brands risk compounding the reputational damage of the original breach with poor communication and avoidable delays.
Business Continuity Has a Front Line – and It Speaks Directly to Your Customers
Customers don’t expect perfection during a crisis. But they do expect presence. They want to hear from a real person, in their preferred channel and language, with timely updates and a sense that someone is taking ownership. And that takes preparation.
At Ant, we work with organisations across sectors to ensure they remain connected to customers when it matters most – whether during a cyber incident, a system failure, or a seasonal spike in demand.
- Our support solutions are designed for exactly these scenarios:
- Omnichannel coverage across phone, email, live chat and social, delivered 24/7
- Multilingual capability in over 20 languages, for UK and international markets
- Rapid deployment of trained teams during disruption, with seamless integration
- Secure remote infrastructure that allows continuity even when internal systems are down
- Empathetic, on-brand communication that protects trust during high-sensitivity situations
This isn’t just about plugging a gap – it’s about creating a proactive buffer that protects customer relationships, ensures brand visibility, and reduces internal strain when pressure is high.
Rethinking Resilience
Resilience in 2025 is more than cyber firewalls and incident response logs. It’s about how your brand shows up when customers are anxious, when your team is stretched, and when speed and empathy count most.
Too often, organisations only review their customer communication strategy after something has gone wrong. But a reactive posture simply isn’t good enough anymore. The brands that emerge stronger from disruption are the ones that planned not just for operational recovery, but for relationship continuity.
If your organisation is reviewing its business continuity planning, now is the time to ask the critical questions:
- Can we scale up support in hours, not days?
- Are we prepared to communicate in multiple languages and channels under pressure?
- Do we have a trusted partner who can step in when our internal teams can’t?
With Ant, the answer can be yes – every time.
If your organisation is reviewing its business continuity strategy, we’d love to help. Contact us today for a free consultation – we’ll review your current BCP plans and show you how Ant can help you build a more resilient, customer-focused response.
