Business Continuity

What is Business Continuity?

Business continuity is a process developed to counteract systems failure. Business continuity plans are required to ensure your business/organisation is able to function in the event of an emergency. Emergencies may arise from the external environment (over which you have no control) such as the floods in January 2005, or emergencies may arise from within the organisation, such as deliberate or accidental damage to systems - particularly computer records. nbsp;  

 

Why Have a Business Continuity Plan?

Understandably, it is essential that there is a certain degree of confidence that your business could continue to deliver its business objectives and minimise the effects of disruption should any emergency arise. Ensuring that there is an effective business continuity plan in place is an invaluable step that can be taken to make sure your business suffers minimal disruption.   Without the business continuity plan in place it is possible that should a natural or man made disaster occur, your organisation could lose income through being unable to function to its normal standard, or in extreme circumstances there could be complete faliure of your organisation.The following statistics provide further evidence emphasising the necessity of a business continuity plan:

• 80% of businesses affected by a major incident close within 18 months.
• 90% of businesses that lose data from a disaster are forced to shut within 2 years.
• 58% of UK organisations were disrupted by September 11th. One in eight was seriously affected.

Developing an Effective Plan

An effective business continuity plan will encompass all eventualities and should enable your business to recover quickly and efficiently should an emergency/disaster take place. The business plan should be concise and available to all staff members that are responsible for components of the plan.   The following action points should be considered when developing your business continuity plan:

• Analyse your business - this involves listing the businesses critical services and considering areas in which your business may be vulnerable e.g. suppliers, partners, buildings, staffing and natural disasters such as fires, floods and flu pandemics.
  
  
• Assess the risks - consider the likelihood of certain risks and what effect certain risks will impose on your business.
  
  
• Prepare a plan - the plan should outline how you are able to continue each of your critical services and various actions for different risks should be highlighted.
  
  
• Test your plan - employees should be involved and training needs should be addressed. It is essential for the plan to be reviewed regularly.
  
  
• Consider if you are ready for all eventualities.