Businesses can face several risks, some of which can be more devastating than others. In extreme cases, these risks can put your business out of operation. That’s why it’s important to employ Business Continuity Planning (BCP). Find out more about this process and what it entails.
Business Continuity Planning is the act of creating a strategy to protect the company’s assets in the event of a disaster. It involves defining risks, determining how they will affect operation, implementing safeguards and procedures to mitigate those risks, testing procedures to make sure they work and periodically reassessing to make sure all methods are updated.
Risks that may occur can include anything from fire, the outbreak of disease or computer failure that results in the loss of valuable company information.
The process of developing a Business Continuity Plan typically starts with conducting a business impact analysis to identify critical business functions and the processes that protect them.
Next, identify how best to recover any information that may be lost.
Organize a business continuity team as well as a plan for how to react if disaster strikes.
Finally, conduct training for the team to make sure the recovery strategies are effective.
Business Continuity Planning is not an easy process, and it may be helpful to use the Operational & Financial Impacts worksheet provided by FEMA to help run a business continuity analysis.
Even with this, you may want to call in a third party who will be expert in identifying trouble spots and creating the best plan to protect your business. In this case, excellent vendor management must be employed to make sure you get someone in who understands your business and can come up with the most effective planning possible.
Your business means everything to you. Learn how to protect it with careful Business Continuity Planning so you can be prepared when disaster strikes.
Learn about risk management planning and business resiliency.