Business Continuity Plan
A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) lists all the procedures and steps a business should take to keep systems and processes operating in the event of an emergency. These situations can vary widely, from natural disasters, public health emergencies, infrastructure failures or even human errors. We have produced a separate article ‘IT Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery – So what can go wrong, what can you do and why should you?‘ giving an overview of various scenarios.
Why is Business Continuity Planning Important?
However, the key question is “What happens If?” and, as Murphy’s Law suggests, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong!”.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone’s attention has shifted to maintaining effective operations despite disruptions to workplace access, supplies, deliveries, and information access. While most businesses have implemented temporary solutions, many are still trying to come to terms with the changes, and in many cases, only parts of the business will remain intact.
Under normal working conditions, business leaders may not always appreciate the risks to systems and data. However, in a crisis, the pressure on staff, systems, and processes can reveal hidden weaknesses, presenting further risks to the business. Therefore, it is essential that the plans keep resilience and protection in place.
Studies claim that less than half of small businesses have a business continuity plan. Yet, we recommend having at least a basic plan, as one never knows when an incident could strike. Don’t let the perceived complexity of the process deter you- once you start, it will seem more manageable.
The Role of IT in Business Continuity
Since IT plays a huge role in business operations, IT Business Continuity Management (BCM) is often highlighted as a significant part of BC. Disaster Recovery (DR), a subset of business continuity, focuses on recovering the technology systems that support business functions.
Creating a Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Plan (BC-DR Plan) means considering scenarios that could disrupt operations and conducting an impact analysis. This should include not just financial losses but also the impact to customers, staff, suppliers and other stakeholders. Ideally, the plan should also become part of the business’s Standard Operating Procedure.
Creating a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
Step 1: Build a Business Continuity Team
To create and implement a BCP, you’ll need the right team. Even if your business is small, start by gathering your employees and assigning roles and responsibilities. If you use external resources, such as HR, IT or finance professionals. Team members should understand their responsibilities, prepare policies, train additional team members, and identify processes to streamline the plan’s execution. Gaining buy-in from all staff is crucial, as a crisis affects everyone in the organisation.
Step 2: Conduct a Risk Assessment and Impact Analysis
Accurate analysis is key for developing strategies to limit the effects of disruptions and to plan recovery:
- Identify the threats and risks that could impact your business. Analyse each risk to understand its potential impact.
- Identify critical functions, assess their vulnerabilities, and examine the resources that support.
- Complete a gap analysis to identify any shortfalls in resources, highlighting where vulnerabilities are more susceptible.
Step 3: Identify Stakeholders and Critical Functions
Determine who your key stakeholders are and identify the critical resources and functions necessary for business continuity. Review any existing controls or preventive measures that could reduce risk and consider additional improvements.
Map out dependencies between teams, define minimum acceptable levels of operation, and establish how long each area can function without specific services.
Finally, outline how information about an incident will be communicated internally and externally.
Step 4: Draft the Plan
With all the information gathered, create a draft plan which should include:
- The purpose of the BCP
- The roles and responsibilities of individuals
- Details of stakeholders and critical functions
- The business impact and gap analysis
- Details of things you need to do to prevent, respond, limit and recover
- What you will do to test the plan
Step 5: Review and Revise your plan
Once the plan is in place, test it regularly to identify and fix any gaps before an incident occurs.
Scheduled tests for individual components, hold meetings to discuss emergency scenarios, and conduct hypothetical exercises to review the plan’s effectiveness.
The threat landscape will continue to change, therefore the continuity plan will need to adapt.
While creating a plan may seem like a large task, it’s well worth the effort. Don’t let the initial scope discourage you
Contact us today to find out more.