World Business Web

Business Continuity Planning (BCP) involves the creation and implementation of a logistical plan for how a company, institution or organisation will recover and restore critical business functions in the event of a disaster or extended disruption. This plan is called a business continuity plan.

Those who work in Business Continuity devise ways for a business to carry on functioning in the event of unforeseen circumstances, including natural disasters like earthquakes or tornados, to localised incidents like pandemics or technology failures.

BCP helps organisations to reduce operational risk, and may be integrated with efforts to improve information security and corporate reputation risk management. A BCP cycle results in a printed manual available for reference, and aims to reduce adverse side effects during a disruption regardless of scope (who and what is affected) and how long it lasts.

When disasters happen, businesses are affected, and many fail to survive catastrophic incidents. Organisations with well-developed BCP manuals have the ability to bounce back almost immediately.

BCP manuals should be stored safely away from the main working location, and should contain the contact details of all relevant crisis management staff members, relevant clients and vendors, as well as information pertaining to offsite data backup storage, insurance and any other information needed for survival.

One of the most important elements of a BCP is making available the financial resource that will be needed to invest in business recovery, including for essential technical resources which many businesses could not function without. When something terrible happens, it’s important that business processes don’t suffer neglect for too long, or it really could be the end of the business.

The BCP manual may detail an alternative work site, list essential technical requirements, work recovery procedures and other useful information. BCP manuals should be realistic and easy to use during a crisis situation, and can aid crisis management and disaster recovery planning, forming part of a company or organisation’s larger risk management strategy.

Many organisations never recover from a disaster, because they don’t plan ahead. Tools are available to help businesses to make reasonable recovery plans, and there’s no excuse for an organisation to be totally unprepared for such a circumstance arising.

Some will look into hiring expensive business continuity specialists or consultants, but often this can be a waste of time and money. If all the processes can be saved using a software management system, then businesses can create their own Business Continuity Plans.