Business Continuity Planning Might Save Your Company

The recent interruption to the Royal Bank of Scotland’s IT systems is a lesson to us all about the importance of having appropriate Business Continuity Planning (BCP) in place. An interruption can lose you clients, damage your reputation irrevocably and cost you financially. A high percentage of companies do not recover from an interruption - and of those which do, many fail within 2 years.

It is important to understand that whatever size of company we own or run, we are all vulnerable to interruptions. It is not just terrorist events or IT failures that can affect us; fires, floods, transportation problems and other assorted Acts of God can all result in lack of access to our premises or systems. How might a fuel crisis affect your business? What will you do if a neighbouring building catches fire and damages your premises? How will you cope if a significant number of your staff leave at the same time, to join a competitor?

Have you ever checked to see whether those companies which support your business have BCP in place? What might be the impact on your company (and thus also to your clients) if one of your service providers fails to manage an interruption to their own business? All sorts of unforeseen and unexpected events can be potentially damaging and we must all have plans in place to mitigate risks.

So what is BCP? Simply put, it is effective preparation allowing you to manage your critical functions in the event of a business emergency. Correctly applied, this will minimise the disruption to your clients, keep employees and visitors to your premises as safe as possible and ensure that management and staff know what their individual roles will be – from crisis right through to recovery and business as usual.

A vital part of this planning is your IT and Telecoms recovery – also known as Disaster Recovery. Do your IT Team or external suppliers have adequate plans in place to manage your systems, regardless of what may lie ahead? The more reliant we become on the internet, computer systems and electronic backup, the more we must ensure they can recover if things go wrong.

For many businesses, having BCP in place is a legal requirement. Law firms are required to demonstrate that they have appropriate measures in place under the SRA Code of Conduct 2011 and any company which supplies goods and services to local authorities and utilities will be subject to the UK Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Being certified to ISO 22301 is one way of proving that you will be capable of managing the continuity of your business during a potential disruption.

Creating a business continuity plan needn’t be overwhelming; putting a manager together with someone from IT to discuss contingency planning is a good start and there are plenty of resources available on the internet to assist in your preparation. Business Continuity Consultants like me can be engaged to support the process, if required - it isn’t an expensive option and it could just save your business’s life.

You will need to consider all possible eventualities and put effective and practical contingency plans in place to ensure viable and reliable preparation. Once you have identified the equipment, systems and IT support you will need in order to continue critical processes, a BCP consultant will work with you to protect that which is crucial to your company: What documents are essential, what sorts of premises will be needed if yours are inaccessible, which of your employees will be required, what systems will they need to access and how will you communicate with staff, clients and suppliers if things do go wrong?

Once these tasks have been completed, consider the realities of your plan; is it workable and have you covered all eventualities? Thorough testing will give you the opportunity to ensure that all management and members of staff are aware of their responsibilities and that you have put everything in place that will be needed if things do go wrong. When everything has been reinforced and updated it should be maintained on a regular basis, to ensure that it remains both current and relevant.

Having a plan in place is commercially beneficial; your clients can trust that your company will continue to take care of their needs and you will have the confidence of knowing that your business has a higher level of resilience and is better able to cope with whatever fate throws at it.

Disasters need not always be disastrous - especially if you plan for the worst and expect the best...

Helen Law-Brown

Executive Resolution

Virtual and Practical Solutions for Your Business

Tel: 0333 700 7500

Fax: 0333 700 7501

Email:  helen@executiveresolution.co.uk

Website: www.executiveresolution.co.uk