When you put together a solid business continuity plan, you increase your chances of being able to react confidently and promptly in the case of a disruption. This can help you avoid client unhappiness, build confidence in your team, and shorten recovery times. Every business continuity strategy must include five critical parts in order to do this.
- Risks and potential business impact: A business impact study, which identifies possible risks and weaknesses both inside and outside the company, will be the foundation of any business continuity strategy worth its salt. These threats could include everything from flooding to a significant IT outage to a major supplier failure. Knowing what you might face allows you to start taking efforts to avoid or lessen the risk.
A good strategy will also leverage the results of your business impact analysis to show the potential repercussions of a disruption. This will allow you to estimate the cost, the impact on critical business processes, and the time it will take to recover.
- Planning an effective response: You can begin to build an effective plan if you have a clear understanding of the types of risks and dangers to which your company may be exposed.
Each risk identified in the business impact analysis will be addressed in a complete business continuity plan, which will establish an effective response strategy to either mitigate or eliminate the risk. These detailed plans will specify the action that needs to be taken as well as who needs to be involved in putting it into action. Timelines and resources, such as computers, alternate warehouse space, and cell phones, should also be established to ensure a timely and relevant response.
- Roles and responsibilities: The main personnel in your business must understand their duties and responsibilities in order to respond effectively to a crisis or disruption. As a result, a business continuity plan will detail who needs to be involved in the reaction to the disruption. More senior employees are usually in charge of this; however it depends on your company and the type of risk you're dealing with.
Once these individuals have been identified, their duties and responsibilities must be clearly defined in order for them to react swiftly and effectively. Following a disruption, the resources they require should be explicitly defined so that they can be prioritized ahead of the rest of the team. When it comes to distributing resources like laptops, tablets, and mobile phones, for example, if a remote office needs to be set up after a disruption, key individuals must be prioritized.
- Communication: During business disruptions, clear communication is critical. Effective communication throughout your company may calm employees and give them confidence that the company is responding and recovering effectively. Good communication is also required outside of your organisation in order to communicate with suppliers and consumers and reduce unhappiness.
A business continuity plan will typically include a list of essential contacts, as well as template press releases and social media posts, to prepare for this. Having these in place ahead of time can help you communicate more quickly in a crisis and keep your team and external contacts informed. In larger organisations, a separate communication strategy may be required to give a comprehensive approach to communication during a crisis.
- Testing and training: Business continuity services strategies must be more than simply theoretical; they must be able to withstand the test of time. The final crucial component of a business continuity plan is testing and exercising to ensure this.
To test the plan and your team's response, use realistic scenarios. You'll be able to spot areas for improvement and take steps to improve the plan before a problem arises. Business continuity plans should be tested and exercised to ensure that key individuals understand the strategy and their role within it. When a disruption happens, the organisation will be able to respond swiftly and effectively.
Making your entire employees aware of the business continuity plan will also assist them understand their role in responding to disruptions. Many businesses provide frequent awareness training sessions and make business continuity management a priority during new employee orientations. This training can then help the company's overall resilience.
Building your own business continuity plan
Our 360-degree Business Continuity Solution can help you establish a plan that helps you predict, assess, prevent, prepare, respond to, and recover from business disruptions.
This bespoke solution, which is not an ISO but gives you access to our expert consultants who can empower you with the skills you need to develop a robust strategy, is designed to make your business more resilient before, during, and after a crisis.
This package includes a two-day consultation, gap analysis and business impact reports, as well as a bespoke business continuity plan and associated supporting documents. This includes key supplier lists, threat and risk assessment matrices, and response templates to assist you in responding to disruptions successfully.
0
