Business Continuity Management
Contents
Introduction
Business Continuity has been developed over many years using
many names and descriptions for example disaster recovery or
contingency planning.
In our everyday life we carry out the same task many times a
day. Have we enough fuel in the vehicle, bread in the larder, meat
in the freezer? What happens if our on line groceries don't arrive,
what if I can't get to the bank today? What would I do if the
motorway was blocked? Or there was no fuel, bread, ink, water, or
even a place to live or work from flooding or fire?
In the work place these issues may not be high on a list of
priorities as it may be someone else's concern, no ink, no work go
home. However if it's your company, your responsibility, your
employment ……..
Then IT'S YOUR RISK
Business Continuity Management provides a framework to help
businesses to evaluate risk to their business and be prepared to
identify when things could go wrong and reduce or prevent them from
affecting you.
The Civil Contingencies Act (2004)
Central Government has identified these issues as significant
enough risk to the country as to warrant legislation that
highlights the need for Business Continuity Management (BCM) and to
provide assistance to those organisations that require it,
including organisations within the Voluntary sector.
The CCA impose duties on specified organisations to have
Business Continuity Plans in place to ensure continued service
provision.
Local authorities have an additional duty to promote awareness
within the business community and can provide some assistance in
continuity planning.
Below is a listing of useful links to assist you in developing
a continuity plan.
First consider the following:-
Benefits of Business Continuity Planning
Without preparation and unexpected event can severely disrupt
your business, events may vary from the more common fire or
flooding to rare major disruptions to transport and infrastructure
from terrorism or fuel protest, foot and mouth or pandemic
flu.
Non availability of key workers in small companies can be just
as catastrophic as can smaller events should they occur at just the
wrong time!
Planning now can prepare you to reduce or remove the effect on
your organisation, in addition the following may be additional
advantages:-
- You may be required to have BCM either through legislation or
corporate governance
- Your insurance company may well view you differently if you can
show a suitable Business Continuity Plan
- Evaluating and planning what can go wrong will help in
understanding your business in greater depth; the greatest value is
often the planning process and not necessarily in the plan.
- Your organisation will be more robust
- You can show your investors you take business seriously and
show your staff you care
- Highlight that service provision to your customers is a high
priority and you have taken steps to ensure continuity and
commitment to them
- Protection of your organisational image, brand and
reputation
- Reduce your losses if things go wrong
Commitment to BCM
As with any business, large or small, commitment is not always
easy. Introducing a new task, initiative or priority is often seen
as an extra straw for the long suffering camel.
The Planning process starts with and is led by organisational
management, it is essential to also include those people
undertaking the tasks, to gain their commitment, trust and their
expertise, as many will already be aware of the difficulties or
weak areas of the current business setup.
To ensure a plan is usable it must be easily understood,
practical, accessible and regularly updated. Promotion of
pre-planning, to ensure continuity can communicate the desired
outcomes within an organisation. Commitment to BCM can prepare you
to survive where others can fail.
Engage with a consultant?
For further information and guidance refer to the
BUSINESS CONTINUITY INSTITUTE, more information can be found
at
The Planning Process
London
Prepared is a government supported web site with valuable
information for continuity planning
- Programme - proactively managing the
process
- People - roles & responsibilities,
awareness & education
- Processes - organisational processes,
including IT
- Premises - buildings & facilities
- Providers - supply chain, including
outsourcing
- Profile - brand, image & reputation
- Performance - benchmarking, evaluation &
audit
With the 7 P's in mind it is recommended that you self assess
your capabilities using the
In Depth planning is assisted with a "5 step" guidance for
companies of the following sizes:-
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Step 1: Analyse your
business
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Step 2: Assess the
risks
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Step 3: Develop your
strategy
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Step 4: Develop your
plan
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Step 5: Rehearse your
plan
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Getting Started
It is said that the journey of 1000 miles starts with the
first step
In addition it is helpful to know where you are going
Any plan of value will be constantly updated as new risks are
identified or from changes in organisational practices, personnel
or product. These 'plan components' will help you give structure to
your plan and help you further identify areas for development. As
you become more aware of the BCM process you will add your own
information as appropriate to your organisation. These components
are included here to help with the first step of the journey by
helping you know where you are going.
Further assistance can be obtained from the web based links
below or from
David Pollard
Useful Links
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Page Last Updated: 11/14/2007
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