Business Setbacks: Recover or Close?

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a plan to stay in business.

Technology failure, human error, cyber attacks, computer viruses, natural and manmade disasters [including a structural fire], criminal activity, civil rest, legislative changes or tulmutuous economic conditions are possible areas worth including in a BCP. It is designed to minimize disruptions in normal business operations and is absolutely necessary for organizations that operate shelters, day cares, schools, assisted living facilities, adult family homes, medical or alternative medical services. A BCP may lessen the economic impact of decreased revenues, lost wages, and financial distruption to vendors, added costs of temporary relocation and negative impact on insurance companies. Many businesses without one fail to reopen after a major loss of information. Those that manage to reopen are seldom able to recover sufficiently to remain in business. Running a business without a business continuity plan is like living in tornado alley without a safe room.

A business continuity plan (BCP) asks how long each mission critical function or department can be without vital services before normal operations will be distrupted. A BCP contains an all hazards business impact analysis (BIA). Before a disaster or distruption, create a step by step process or road map showing how to restore each essential function. This requires well thought out work around plans for how operations will continue if interdependent services or processes (examples include but are not limited to access to facilities, vendors, transportation and information or data and financial electronic processing equipment) are not promply restored.

This includes identification of an alternate facility in the event work facilities are damaged and temporarily uninhabitable. It may include alternate vendors with different logistics networks to circumvent a distruption in the supply line. If operations are dependent on transportaion systems, identify alternate routes and methods of providing transportation. Consider how you wll make payroll or pay for services if electronic processing equipment is inoperable.

Recovery teams are charged with restoring critical operations under pressure in what may be a constantly changing environment and within prescribed time lines.

Recovery teams become operational following a disaster, (but may be pre-positioned before a disaster if there is sufficient warning), so it is important to maintain and update information annually or when there is any change in personnel. Lastly, it should contain a list of all persons or departments the plan was distributed to. If your organization is small, you can partner and share resources with other organizations in your area to attain this.

The goal is to restore mission critical tasks to continue business operations such as the ability to report to work, restore revenues, services to the communty and technology.