Disasters usually strike without any notice, so even if you think you have some time, there are plenty of things that could go south, and events typically progress in many different ways. This is the main reason why you really should have a business continuity plan. This plan is crucial if you want to help ensure that your business survives disasters such as cyber attacks, fire, natural disasters or any event that can negatively affect your operations.
Defining Business Continuity
BC or business continuity is basically the ability to continue functions or operations or resume them right away following natural disasters, cyber attacks, or fire. Generally speaking, a business continuity plan covers specific instructions and processes your business will need to implement when a disaster strikes to safeguard business assets, processes, human resources, and business partners. Do note though that a BC plan is not the same a disaster recovery plan, but it is just as crucial.
The Importance of Business Continuity Plans
It’s a fact that all businesses want to remain competitive, always. It’s vital to retain existing customers and obtain new ones at the same. The ideal way to assess your business’ ability to do all these is after an unfortunate incident because the future your business depends on your processes and resources. You need to make certain that you’re capable of effectively handling such events if you want to ensure the good reputation of your business and increase customer confidence. Otherwise, you could ruin your business’ reputation and lead to failure because of lost productivity, which in turn results in profit loss.
The Essentials of a Business Continuity Plan
If you don’t have a BC plan in place yet; now’s the time to plan and implement it. Evaluate your business to identify the most vulnerable parts and processes. Think about the potential losses if any of your business functions are down even for a day! That said, when considering availing of business continuity management consulting services, you’ll find that providers will tell you these key steps to create a business continuity plan:
- Identify critical business processes, functions, and areas.
- Determine the extent of your business continuity plan.
- Find dependencies between business areas and their specific functions.
- Figure out the maximum downtime amount adequate for every function.
- Establish a solid strategy for sustaining all operations and resuming them as fast as possible.
After conducting all these tasks, you’ll need to create a clear and concise checklist highlighting all supplies and equipment, backup location sites, where the BC plan is, and anyone who can access it. Include necessary details such as emergency responders, contact information of your team, and site providers.
Never underestimate how disasters can impact and wreak havoc on your business, especially when you’re not prepared for them. Not having a solid business continuity plan in place would take your business longer than it should to bounce back from disasters and might result in various risks that could in turn negatively affect your bottom line.
