What would happen if there was a major disruption to your business - right now?

We are inclined to think  catastrophes and serious incidents only happen to other organisations.  Every day we hear of major events happening. Cyber hacks, denial of service, privacy beaches, fires, floods, earthquakes tsunamis, pandemics, the list goes on.

Most businesses therefore live in denial, believing if a crisis occurs the business will be fine. How can that be? What should business owners do to ensure their business will survive?  Why would you not plan for a major crisis? Many businesses despite having insurance, collapse because of compounding issues.

Prudent business people recognize the benefits of continuity planning. Until more recently this cost has been prohibitive.  Now new solutions, better standards and user-friendly software are making this far less costly. With plain English processes you can develop your own solutions. You can get help when it suites you and at reasonable rates. Our Business Continuity Plan solutions are ideally suited to businesses with of 15 employees to the larger ones of 500 to 600 staff.

Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) involves setting up a plan and methodology so that as soon as there is a crisis, the plan is activated. It’s about who plays what role, what you need to do immediately,  so to take control. This is what usually happens  in the first week or two. Each member of the team coordinates and communicates set tasks between all critical stakeholders.  Some examples of stakeholders are customers, suppliers, insurers, media, police, government agencies, service providers, IT consultants and other consultants.  Key to survival is  the capacity to rapidly access temporary premises, manufacturing capacity, alternate suppliers, power, and essential services to help keep your customer base intact.

Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is the logical progression moving beyond the initial crisis which has handled the DRP. It’s about setting and dealing with the longer-term scenario. For major events there will be a prolonged period of interference with your business. You will need preplanned strategies and teams to deploy agreed coordinated processes, to minimize down time and fast track recovery to back to normal trading levels.

You cannot assume your insurance claim will be paid, least of all quickly. You cannot assume your legal rights will be protected and damages awarded, regardless of whether you win legal proceedings.

Successful businesses anticipate something will happen. They plan, test and retest to ensure that when it does happen, very clear well planned strategies which are embedded in the business processes are automatically activated. The risk of an uncertain future or potential insolvency is significantly reduced because of that planning. Resilience and confidence are the natural outcomes of Business Continuity Planning.

Together with our affiliates we can provide core business resilience and security for your business.

The free Business Growth & Risk Health Check will also help you understand how your business is placed. It will grow your appreciation of risks, and  a natural inclination to look closer at  DRP and BCP strategies.

Ask us about how this can help you. You have absolutely nothing to lose saving  little time.