Civil Emergencies - Business Continuity Advice

So you have your plan what next?

What is Business Continuity and how do I do it? Business continuity is not something that only large businesses should think about. No matter what size your business is, how many people it employs, your business must be prepared, because any form of interruption has the potential to seriously affect, yours, and your employees' livelihoods.

Whilst the above is the majority of your Business Continuity Arrangements it is not the complete cycle, you must then consider the upkeep of you plan; It is important that you assign a periodically review for your plans. This may consider:

• Staff turnover,
• Changes in technology
• Changes in Business Processes etc.

In large organisations you may wish/need to delegate this task to someone within that can regularly brief you and other members of your organisation, this person should have a general overview of the business. In smaller organisations there will be less need to appoint someone to take on this role as you may be the most appropriate person.

Exercising and Training

Rehearsing your arrangements is the final part of the cycle, which in turn may require you to further train/cross skill your staff and modify your plan accordingly. This can be as involved as you want or feel is needed.

It may be that your organisation has experienced an interruption (eg high sickness) as such you have, in effect, tested your arrangements: this does not negate the need for formal tests, which can often highlight omitted components and goes some way to explore your arrangements.

Examples of Testing of your plan:

• Operating for a period of time without key personnel
• Operating without IT for a couple of hours
• Ringing key stakeholders/suppliers/customers to check that you have the correct contact details
• Having a brainstorming session with your managers/key staff/employees and thinking through various scenarios, Loss of your premises, Loss of Utilities, failure of a critical piece of equipment for a number of hours/days the list is endless.

This process is an investment in your companies' survival.