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Business Continuity - Implementing a Plan
Business Continuity Plans mean that when a disaster or emergency strikes, your business will be able to continue functioning with minimum disruption.Business Continuity Management System
Business continuity Management Systems' best practice requirements are set out in British Standard 25999. The 5 generally accepted stages to preparing one are:
Power loss is one of the main risks affecting business continuity. When we think of electricity, we often think about it as something that is continually flowing. Unfortunately this is not the case and power loss is becoming ever more frequent with insufficient supply, vandalism, bad weather and other factors causing the electricity to fail. No business can operate without power. There is however a way of obtaining continuous power.
Business Continuity Plan - Do I really need one?
Consider the following facts:
- The average cost of a power cut is £100,000
- 44% of companies affected by fire close permanently
- 150 out of the 350 companies affected by the 1993 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre went under
- Analysis
- Solution design
- Implementation
- Testing and organisation acceptance
- Maintenance.
These are explained in more detail below.
Business Continuity Plan - Analysis
The analysis stage identifies the risks, threats and impact of these to the business operations. The most common (although there are countless others) risks affecting the continuity of business operations are:
- Power loss
- IT failure
- Natural disasters
- Fire
- Disease
- Sabotage (including cyber attack)
- Terrorism
Business Continuity Systems - Solution Design
Once the risks have been identified, the necessary solution needs to be established to overcome the particular issue. For example installing a diesel generator and uninterruptible power supply will eliminate the risk of a power loss affecting your company. Implementing robust security protocols, installing firewalls and maintaining virus protection of IT equipment will reduce the risk of cyber attack and IT failure. In order to produce a successful plan, it is important to involve the relevant people within your organisation when drawing up the solutions so that i) they provide you with their expertise and ii) they understand the solution and fully endorse it.
Business Continuity Systems - Implementation
Once the solutions have been drawn up, the business continuity plan would be futile if the various tasks and initiatives were not actually carried out. It is good to prepare a programme of which activities need to be carried out immediately and in which order (depending on the size of the risk).
Business Continuity Systems - Testing and organisation acceptance
Business Continuity Plans can only be deemed suitable if tested. Obviously it is relatively easy to test the Uninterruptible power supply or the generator to ensure that they are working correctly but it is not always possible to reconstruct a terrorist attack. However all parts of the system can be tested to differing extents. Where th e tests identify failings, these need to be analysed and corrected.
As mentioned above, it is vital to have the full acceptance of the employees in order to have a successful business continuity management system. Hopefully you will have already won the approval of the majority by involving them at an early stage. By explaining the reasons for introducing such a system and the benefits it will bring your employees, you will be able to win the support of the remainder.
Business Continuity Systems - Maintenance
Business Continuity Plans and systems should be reviewed at least annually. This will allow for company changes (such as new risks affecting the company, changes to employees, departments or operations) to be provided for. Individual components will also need to be physically maintained. For example the power continuity equipment should be serviced and maintained by a suitably qualified engineer to ensure it is in working order. IT equipment requires regular updates and new starters will require an induction and possibly suitable training depending on their role.
Many people think that nothing catastrophic will ever happen to their business, and they may be right. However the effects of being caught unprepared could mean the end of the company. It makes business sense to ensure you implement your business continuity plan today.