Back to Basics: What is Business Continuity Planning and Why is it so Important?
Business Continuity Planning is the cornerstone of an established, enduring business. Put simply, a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) aims to see your business losing as little as possible during a crisis. A BCP focuses on maintaining key operations during a crisis in order to allow as much of the business to continue operating where possible. A disruption or crisis can derail your business’ day-to-day activities, and experiencing a sudden, unexpected event without having any plans in place can leave you in the dark and not knowing where to start. Disruptions to daily operations could include anything from natural disasters to IT disruptions, or power outages to medical emergencies. BCPs can be used to mitigate the impacts of both minor and major disruptions, with the response dependent on the kind of crisis the business is facing.
Why is Business Continuity Planning crucial to your business’ success?
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Organizations tend to focus on returning to ‘business as usual’ after a disruption when, in reality, to be fully prepared for what the future may throw at you, the focus needs to shift to preparing for ‘business as unusual’. The world is full of uncertainties, and the world of business is not immune to major disruptions and crises. Recovering from an emergency or crisis can be an extremely long, difficult and expensive process, but having a plan in place that focuses on restoring and maintaining as many operations as possible could mean the difference between your business continuing to thrive in the future, and shutting down indefinitely.
4 Key Steps of Business Continuity Planning
Below are four key steps required for Business Continuity Planning:
Step 1 – Identify Critical Functions
Step 2 – Link Interdepartmental Dependencies
Step 3 – Identify Maximum Available Outages (MAO)
Step 4: After the business continuity plan is complete: test it!
The Role of Business Continuity Consultants
Many businesses lack the internal expertise to develop a robust BCP. This is where business continuity consultants provide strategic value. Consultants assess risks, create tailored business continuity strategies, and guide companies through implementation and testing.
Contact Resilient Services for a Business Continuity Plan
At Resilient Services, we specialise in business resilience consulting, helping organisations implement strong, adaptable business continuity plans. Whether you need risk assessments, IT recovery strategies, risk management frameworks, emergency management plans, our expert organisational resilience consultants can guide you through the process.
Be prepared for anything. Contact us at Resilient Services today and see how our knowledgeable team can help make your business stronger, smarter and more secure.