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 Business Continuity
is a catch phrase
I have been hearing lately, but it relates to a topic that has been around for a
long time. What does it mean? Well think about it, it actually means
“staying in business”. It’s that simple. It’s something people have
been interested in for a
long
time, or should have been. So what’s new? Well today we depend on technology
so much that if we were unable to use our technology for a couple of weeks the
results would be drastic. The truth of the matter is that most businesses are
started by risk takers, people that look at the possible negative results and
decide to go ahead any way. That is how they start, but after they have it
going and especially if they have employees they begin to ask themselves, “How
am I going to hold on”. There are a number of answers to that and of course the
most important ones have to do with keeping the business relevant to the
potential customer base so that money continues to come in. Next they have to
control the expenses so that whatever revenue amount comes in, expenses do not
consistently exceed that revenue amount. This can be a continuous planning
issue if revenue is not constant for any reason. This discussion could go on
and on. The point I am trying to get to is that in addition to all of this,
today many businesses depend on their technological advantage. (If they
don’t have a technological advantage they should probably look for one and put
it into place, but that is another subject. Contact me if you want to talk
about it.) As we said above business today functions on the computer, our
accounting systems, and our communication systems with email and phones. For
many the ability to fax is critical. Some are marketing through their website
and for many the website is becoming an extension of the services a company
provides. Relationships with suppliers are often becoming a technical issue as
well.
So, what happens if it all comes crashing down? This could
happen in a number of different ways. Your computers could crash (meaning cease
to function), they could be stolen, and there could be a natural disaster. A
key employee could leave the company or die. The same could happen to one of
your vital suppliers. To illustrate the point above Mason from the Red Cross
says, “following the Oklahoma City bombing in April, 1995, police closed
multiple blocks around the disaster site for weeks, preventing many businesses
from accessing their offices. At least 950 companies never reopened.” So the
big question is how are you going to keep it all running?
First place to start is to do a Business Risk
Analyses along with a Business Impact Analyses. You need to determine where you
are vulnerable, or look at it as what is important for your continued
operation. Next what Impact will that have? Will you still be in business?
How much money will you loose? These two practices which should be done
thoroughly will tell you where you need to focus and how much money it is worth
to you.
Second, now that you know what the problems are and
how much it will cost you it is time to plan. As you plan you can determine if
there are things you can avoid. Certainly there are some problems that can be
avoided. There are some problems that can not be avoided. They are beyond your
control. Even if you can’t stop them from happening you can determine how they
will affect you. Your plan will help you be ready for whatever will happen.
Some pieces can be specific such as, “What to do in case of a fire”. There are
some events that may happen for a variety of reasons, “What will you do if you
loose your phone system?”
Third, test the plan…continuously. The plan is no
good if you don’t know for sure it will work and the only way to do that is to
test it. The faults will be found and you will change the plan and re-test.
You must do this again in a month or six months depending on how extensive you
get, because things change.
Fourth, start now. You never know when things will
go terribly wrong. I don’t like focusing on negative things either but the
reason to do this now is so that you don’t have to worry about it. Now is the
time to start doing something about it. If you would like to talk more about it
I have a presentation I can do for free at your office to get the process
started. During the presentation I talk a little more about some of the things
you should be considering. If after that time you feel you need some help with
the process we can talk about working together on the First, Second and Third
steps to making sure your business stays in business. To schedule the
appointment for my free presentation use any of the contact methods available on
our contact page.
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