What is a Business Continuity Plan?
A Business Continuity Plan is a documented collection of procedures and information that is developed, compiled and maintained in readiness for use in an incident to enable the organisation to continue to deliver its critical products and services at an acceptable pre-defined level.
Why do I need a Business Continuity Plan?
- Experience shows that planning in advance for disruptions puts businesses in a much better position to recover effectively if disaster strikes
- A tested and validated plan shows banks, investors, customers, staff and suppliers that you understand potential risks to the business and have controls in place
- Having a plan could give your business a competitive advantage when bidding or tendering for new work
- A business continuity plan is good for staff confidence too as they will appreciate that their employer is taking steps to protect their safety and the workplace
- Ultimately, business continuity planning is good business practice that can help maintain financial stability and protect reputation
How do I write a Business Continuity Plan?
- Identify your business priorities that you would need to continue if you lost access to resources such as people, premises, IT, equipment, information, suppliers
- Determine what resources you will need to continue those priorities and the timescales within which these will need to be available
- Document this information into a plan of action and keep it up to date
- Work out what you need to do now to make sure you can maintain your business critical work after something goes wrong, for example:
- Take backups offsite
- Identify alternative accommodation and other resources
- Check staff know their responsibilities and how to communicate with their teams in an emergency
- Put a response team in place to manage incidents
- Review business continuity arrangements on a regular basis
Click here to find out how Teed can help you develop and write a Business Continuity Plan
- Date: 20th March 2017