| Layers of Business Continuity Planning |
| Written by Joseph Roux | |
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As your business grows, so should your business continuity plan, so don’t forget to add layers and options over the years. What satisfied your requirements a year ago, may not work for you today. Or you may have added critical components that now need to be included in the Business Continuity Plan. Cross-Train With Like Size BusinessesSome of those layers to your plan might come as you make contacts in the business community around you. Consider an arrangement with a like-size business to utilize each other’s space in case of a minor emergency. For instance, if your building has a gas leak and you have to evacuate, maybe the business across the street would let you use a couple phone lines and the conference room for a few hours. If you offer the same option to them, the reciprocating option adds layers to your BCP at little to no cost.Talk To Your BankCash flow, payroll, vender payments and customer billing are all critical to a business. Talk to your bank to include some options. How long would it take to get a number of counter checks for payroll draws, for instance? The banker may have additional options that if you are aware of, you can include in your plan. In case your normal branch is inaccessible, make sure you have a letter of reference from your banker that lists your account numbers and relationship so you can go to another branch and get the service you are used to.Chamber of CommerceTalk to your local chamber of commerce. See if they are running seminars on Business Continuity Planning and attend one. Also talk to them about extending their facilities for members in need of a site for crisis management. They might be able to let you use a conference room and a couple of telephone lines if you need them for a few days. Talk to them about making this part of their services.Business Park or Industrial ComplexIf your company is in a business park or industrial complex, consider talking to the other businesses in the complex and see what they’ve done for business continuity. Check with the building or complex manager and see if you can make arrangements to utilize any empty office space. With cell phones and laptops, it might be all you need for a few hours.Share Your PlansAs you share your plans with other companies and help them implement Business Continuity Plans for their own businesses, you will continue to grow your contact list and learn from them how they are handling things. This can help you keep things in perspective and fresh.Vendors, Suppliers and Storage FacilitiesIf you have a Business Continuity Plan, but your vendors or suppliers don’t, your business could still be at risk. As your critical suppliers what their BCP entails. If something happens to one warehouse that supplies your store or customers, is there another one that can keep the supplies coming? Do you have the number for these facilities? If the vendor is critical to your business, what happens if they have a fire, or can’t get into the office for several days? Part of your plan should include knowing what plans your vendors have.CommunicationHow do you plan to communicate with employees, customers and vendors if there is a need to leave your primary facility? Do you have plans that include an off-site voice mail box? These can be useful for employees to call and be updated on back to work timeframes, and for customers to call and leave a message for a call back. You can have specific people calling these voice mail boxes for messages every thirty minutes.Besides communicating during the event, what about making sure your employees know what the plan is before it’s needed? Do you have a company newsletter? Make sure you have training meetings to go over the BCP with everyone on a quarterly basis. ProfessionalsMany community organizations like the fire department and police station have information they can give you. There may be written pamphlets that they publish with the intent of helping companies make contingency plans for disasters that would help you develop additional layers to your plan.Government Planning Website The government has a website that helps companies make contingency plans and disaster recovery plans for their businesses. There are sample plans on this site as well as case stories. This website is: http://www.ready.gov/business/plan/ |
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