Business Continuity Planning - are you prepared?

Flash floods, Fuel shortages, Power cuts, Bomb explosion

What next for businesses?

The bare statistics that one in five businesses will suffer a crisis each year are being clothed in reality for Devon businesses with a sequence of events that may try even the most optimistic among us. But for some this will be the opportunity they have been looking for to put a new item in their cupboard and face the future with confidence. Business Continuity Planning is all about anticipating what can go wrong and planning to minimise the damage. If you have a plan, now is the time to review it to see if it worked as anticipated or if it needs tweaking. If you don’t have a plan, now is the time to draw one up.

Planning what to do when disruption hits can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. The usual steps are:

ü      Agree the scope of the plan – what areas do you need to cover to optimise the return to business as usual or to stop something going wrong in the first place

ü      Identify your key products and services – what are your pressure points and what do you need to have up and running within 1 hour, 1day, 1 week etc

ü      Develop your plan

ü      Test your plan by running through a simulation exercise

ü      Publish your plan – make sure your staff and other interested parties know what to do

ü      Keep your plan up to date

If you take these steps then whenever the next crisis comes along you will be prepared, your staff will know what to do, your potential losses will be minimised and your customers are less likely to go elsewhere. 

1 in 5 Businesses will suffer a crisis this year, 80% of these won't be around 18 months later.  Gerranium can help business not to be part of the statistics.  Contact us for a free initial chat via www.gerranium.eclipse.co.uk

Date: 30/06/2008
Category: BUSINESS EDITORIAL