How essential is a business continuity plan to continue business?
In times of a disaster, emergency, or an incident how fast can you get back into business as usual? If your organization requires to prepare for emergencies, protect against disasters, and recover from disruptions with enterprise grade continuity solutions, we got you covered.
Does your insurance cover all costs, including replacing your loyal customers that defect to your competition. Are you hard at work on your plan? Are you ready to learn faster than anyone else?
Keep your business planning continuity simple
At one point or another, most entrepreneurs will likely face unexpected challenges that threaten the future of their businesses.
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Senior management approval and buy-in is essential to the success of the overall BCP effort. If possible, you should attempt to have the plan endorsed by the top executive in your business – the chief executive officer, chairman, president, or similar business leader.
This move demonstrates the importance of the plan to the entire organization and showcases the business leader’s commitment to business continuity. The signature of such an individual on the plan also gives it much greater weight and credibility in the eyes of other senior managers, who might otherwise brush it off as a necessary but trivial IT initiative.
— James Michael Stewart
Definition
Business continuity planning (BCP) is a systematic approach to managing risk. BCP is a proactive measure to ensure business operations continue uninterrupted even after a disaster occurs.
Business continuity planning details how an organization or company continues operating during and after an emergency. It’s also called a disaster recovery plan, an emergency response plan, or an incident management plan.
Any business disruption is costly, leading to lost revenues. Any extra expenses for business recovery incase of an emergency of an incident means reduced profits. Development of a business continuity plan includes four steps as captured in the business continuity planning flow below, i.e.,
- Business impact analysis for time-sensitive business functions, processes, and supporting resources.
- Recovery strategies of critical business functions and processes.
- Business continuity plan.
- Training on recovery strategies for business continuity team, testing and exercises.
Categories of Business Continuity Planning
A business continuity plan should address the following three categories:
• Disaster Recovery Plan
• Business Impact Analysis
• Risk Management Plan
A business continuity plan is not just about preparing for a natural disaster. It is equally important to prepare for any type of emergency situation including cyber attacks, power outages, fires, floods, etc.
Disaster Recovery Plan
The first step towards developing a successful business continuity plan is to create a detailed disaster recovery plan. This plan includes identifying potential risks and threats, determining what steps need to be taken to mitigate those risks, and how to recover from a disaster if it does occur.
Business Impact Analysis
In order to determine the level of damage caused by a disaster, a business impact analysis is performed. This analysis helps identify critical systems and processes that could be affected by a disaster. Once these systems have been identified, they can then be prioritized based on their importance to the company’s business.
Risk Management Plan
Risk management plans help companies understand and manage the risks associated with their business activities. These plans are created to reduce the likelihood of negative outcomes occurring and to minimize the financial impact of disasters.
