Business Continuity Advice
Business Continuity Management, if practised effectively, can
assist a business to survive the disruptive challenges which
threaten our everyday life. By developing a management tool which
looks at the whole business organisation and identifies the
critical processes, and planning, preparing and protecting, a
business can survive.
Three very good reasons why you should have a plan:
- 80% of businesses affected by a major incident close within 18
months.
- 90% of businesses that lose data from a disaster are forced to
shut within 2 years.
- 58% of UK organisations were disrupted by September 11th. One
in eight was seriously affected.
Business Continuity Management Process
Understanding your business and key business objectives
List the processes involved within the business and think about
the importance of each process to the success of the business.
Understand what each particular process depends upon, and, in turn,
what subsequent processes depend upon that process. Understand each
process, how it works, what are the component parts of the process,
and how it could be achieved another way in the event of an
emergency.
Identify key activities and staff working within those activity
areas
List the activities within each process and identify those which
are critical. Plot them on a timeline to show the maximum length of
time allowed before a key activity must be completed. These are
processes without which a serious impact would occur, internal or
external, life threatening, financial, reputational or
environmental. Train other staff to cover these activities if
necessary.
Identify the potential threats
List the everyday threats that would challenge your ability to
continue your day to day activities; such as fire, flood, prolonged
power loss, system failure, epidemic, political disruption,
terrorism etc. Include on your list as many problems as you can
think of.
Assess the risk – internal and external
Measure the risk against each key activity within each process
on the basis of likelihood- has it ever happened before? have
circumstances changed to make it more likely? Has your business
changed to make it more vulnerable/ robust?
Calculate the impact
Measure the impact of each key activity within each process of
each disruptive challenge occurring.
Review the results
Review the impact against likelihood of each core activity and
calculate the risk. Consider the combined risk factors. List first
the most likely disruptions with a potential for high impact. You
may find this easier if you attach a score to each level of impact
and to each level of likelihood and multiply both scores to produce
a 'risk score' which can then be listed.
Plan
Prepare your plan to reduce the likelihood or reduce the impact
if this is possible. Consider some of the simple things that may
help in an emergency; for example an offsite emergency box
containing useful, regularly updated client contact information can
be very important in a crisis to assist recovery.
Include in your plan some useful work around processes that
would help you in a emergency. Focus on the most critical
areas/processes/activities first, include useful addresses and
phone numbers/web-sites. Distribute copies of the plan among your
key staff and keep a copy offsite.
Train your staff
Talk to your staff and get their input, they will probably know
the work-around processes better than you. Hold a staff meeting and
run through the plan with them, make sure they are aware of the
detail of what to do in an emergency
Exercise
Draw up an exercise schedule for your business at least a year
ahead. Include a tabletop walkthrough of a scenario based around
one of the threats from your list of perceived potential disruptive
activities. Don't forget to include a fire evacuation and flood
evacuation, if appropriate. Discuss the exercise schedule with your
staff and get their support.
Audit
After each exercise get the feedback and consider how the plan
could be improved.
Review regularly
Revisit the whole process each year. The potential disruptions
may have changed, your business may have changed. You may have
different critical processes
Further Help
Further assistance can be obtained by visiting the websites
listed on the right. If you require more specific help or advice
please contact the Joint Resilience Unit on 01792 637422 or
contact us by e-mail.