Business Continuity Planning — Why You Need It
Introduction
A business continuity plan is a key part of any disaster recovery strategy. It’s important to ensure that your company will be able to function in the event of an emergency situation. A business continuity plan is more than just putting together a manual for how to respond in the case of an emergency, though. You need to take steps now to ensure that you have the right resources in place before an emergency strikes.
Business Continuity Planning is a part of Disaster Recovery.
Business Continuity Planning is a part of Disaster Recovery.
It’s the plan to keep your business running during and after an emergency.
Disaster Recovery is the plan to get your business back up and running after an emergency
Most businesses do not have a formal Business Continuity Plan in place.
Most businesses do not have a formal Business Continuity Plan in place. According to the recent survey by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), only 18 percent of small businesses surveyed had developed a business continuity plan and only 17 percent had conducted any type of drill or exercise to test their plans.
Why? Because most people think it’s unnecessary for their small business.
Many think that it’s not necessary for their small business.
Many think that it’s not necessary for their small business. They believe that because they don’t have a large, expensive IT infrastructure or thousands of employees, they don’t need to worry about data loss. However, this is a false assumption. A disaster can happen at any time, and the longer you wait to prepare yourself for it, the harder it will be on your company when it does happen.
Many small businesses are just as vulnerable to disaster as large companies–and sometimes even more so! Because small businesses do not have large budgets or significant staffing resources like larger organizations do, they often cannot afford to lose their data or customers in case of an emergency situation such as fire or flood damage requiring immediate evacuation from their office building due to lack of safety measures taken beforehand such as having proper fire alarms installed inside each individual cubicle area where employees work together daily (which most likely does not exist). Without proper planning ahead by these owners/managers before hand then unfortunately there won’t be much left behind after something bad happens either way which means losing everything forever; especially if nothing was ever created beforehand either digitally stored somewhere else outside locally…
It can be difficult to get started creating a business continuity plan.
It can be difficult to get started creating a business continuity plan. The first step is to know what your business is and what it does, as well as the risks associated with that. Then you need to figure out who is impacted by the business continuity plan and how they will be impacted if something happens.
Once all of this has been determined, then you need to create a plan that will help mitigate those risks so that if something does happen, there are steps in place on how everyone should react during an emergency situation or disaster scenario.
A disaster can happen at any time, so it is important to put together a plan in advance.
When you’re in the middle of a disaster, it can be hard to think straight. You may not know where to begin or what to do next. A business continuity plan will help you get your bearings and take action in a crisis situation.
It’s important that you plan for disasters before they happen because a disaster can occur at any time–even when you least expect it. For example, an earthquake could strike your city or an unexpected snowstorm might shut down roads for days on end; these events could cause significant damage if not prepared for ahead of time with an effective response plan in place.
A well-crafted business continuity strategy will help ensure that critical functions are maintained during times of crisis while minimizing disruption to employees and customers alike by providing them with updates as appropriate throughout recovery efforts (or even prior).
Your business continuity planning should be more than just creating a manual for how to respond, though.
Your business continuity planning should be more than just creating a manual for how to respond, though. You need the right resources in place before an emergency strikes. You need to know who will be responsible for what tasks and what resources they will need.
If you do this, you can have peace of mind when your business is faced with an emergency situation or disaster recovery.
You need to take steps to ensure you have the right resources in place before an emergency strikes.
You need to take steps to ensure you have the right resources in place before an emergency strikes.
- Make sure you have the right equipment. There are many types of business continuity planning (BCP) equipment available, including generators and backup power sources; fire suppression systems; emergency lighting systems; alarms and sensors; climate control devices such as air conditioners or heating units; communication devices such as cellular modems or satellite phones; physical security measures like cameras and locks on doors if they’re needed in your location; tools like hammers and screwdrivers that may be useful during recovery efforts–the list goes on!
- Make sure you have the right people on staff who know how everything works together so that they can respond quickly when problems arise without having to consult others first (which could waste precious time). This includes understanding how each piece interacts with other pieces so there aren’t any surprises when something goes wrong during an emergency situation where no one is around except those working in whatever building happens not only
have access but also knowledge about what needs doing next based upon experience gained through past experiences dealing with similar situations where each person had multiple roles within their respective departments (e., maintenance worker turning into plumber when pipes burst).
Having a well-designed business continuity plan can save your company during an emergency situation
A well-designed business continuity plan can help you to prepare for a disaster and recover from it. It will also help you prevent a disaster from happening in the first place and respond to any emergencies if they do occur.
A good plan will have all of these elements:
- An assessment of risks that could disrupt your operations, including natural disasters, human error or malicious acts (such as terrorism).
- A description of how each critical function will be carried out under normal conditions as well as during an emergency situation when normal operations cannot continue due to damage or loss of power or other critical resources such as staff members who are needed at their usual locations but cannot get there because roads are blocked by fallen trees (a common problem during hurricanes)
Conclusion
If you’re ready to get started on your business continuity planning, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First, make sure that everyone who needs to be involved with the process knows what their roles are and has been given appropriate training on how they can help out during an emergency. Second, every company will have different needs depending on its size and industry–but all businesses should have some sort of plan in place! Finally, don’t forget about regular testing so that when (not if) disaster strikes again someday down the road…