The Key Elements Of Business Continuity Planning
The following paragraphs summarize the work of experts who are completely familiar with all the aspects of Business continuity planning. Heed their advice to avoid any surprises.
Recovering from a business devastation is not good Business Continuity planning. Many companies lack a business continuity plan. Many claim to have a continuity plan in place but in reality what they have is a recovery plan, often meaning that they have off site temporary premises to operate from and off site back up of all their files in an event of a total disruption of operation. Business continuity extends beyond the technology aspect of their business. A successful business is a sum of its parts. So what are the parts of a successful business:
1 - The Staff: without the staff the business ceases to exist. How do you replace the knowledge and experience your staff brings to the table in a matter of days? How much will your company lose by not having the key personnel to run your operation. Where is there a pool of people you can draw from to help keep your business afloat should any of your key staff members become unable to work with permanently or temporarily?
2 - Equipment: Can all your equipment be easily replaced or is there some significant machinery that requires customization and lead time? Can you operate with shoe string equipment? 3 - Software and data: have all systems and data been backed up to off site server? 4 - Paper trail: have all paperwork been duplicated and stored at off site facilities? The first step in testing your plan would be to develop a business continuity group for your business, consisting of representatives from every main business areas, including top personnel in the finance department, facilities department and IT department. One key component in your planning is that you must make sure the you have several insurance policies in place: Key personnel protection policy, Income Protection Policies, Payment Protection Insurance In addition to having trained alternates in place to move in to a position of authority should your key personnel be impacted by a disaster, having the aforementioned policies will enable you to only suffer the personal loss as oppose to both personal and business impact that person brought to your organization. Once the business continuity group is established you must be consisting in maintain it and in testing it regularly. Your test for recovery from a disaster should not only be that your IT systems but that of your over operation operating effectively from a remote area.
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