| Playing the Business Continuity Game of What If |
| Written by Joseph Roux | |
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Business Continuity Planning is a little like playing an extended, adult version of what if—what if there is a gas leak and you can’t get in the building for six hours? Or what if there is a fire and you have to rebuild?
Would your business still run if any of these things happen? Business Continuity is not Disaster Recovery. Although similar, think of the differences by considering that a Disaster happens to everyone, every business. Resources will be hard to come by because everyone needs them. Business continuity is something that either happens only to you, or is just a short-term hiccup for everyone. A couple examples would be your business caught on fire, or the ice-storm meant you couldn’t go to work for three days. In order to be effective, a BCP or Business Continuity Plan, needs to address all kinds of hazards. Man-made problems like fire and gas leaks, or natural problems like ice storms. Pre-PlanningBefore you start working on your companies BCP, do a little research. You aren’t going to plan for ice storms if you live in an area that has never had one. Research risk-assessment and either pay to have someone do one for your company, or read up on what goes into an assessment and make an educated perusal of your company and practices.Company FunctionsWhat do you do? How do you make your money? Make a list of people, products and supplies that you need to do your job and run your business. If you have a business process flow chart, review it and assess where you have risk and what can be done to negate some of that risk.For instance, if you sell something, is it all stored in one warehouse? How long does it take you to get new product? If it takes you three days to get new product, you might want to consider keeping a day or two of product in other storage facilities and rotate your supplies. This way if the warehouse goes up in smoke, you can continue to make sales for a couple days and then new product would be coming in. Staff ResponsibilitiesDo you have a staff list? Names, addresses, phone numbers? That’s a start, now update the list with responsibilities and determine who takes care of what if you need to implement a BCP. For example, assign someone to call the employees and let them know they need to stay away from the office and work at home, or call a voicemail number for updates on the hour. Another employee can call suppliers or contractors and explain how business will be transacted during the time the BCP is in effect. Another person might search out and find a hotel conference room where you can set up temporary offices for a time. So many things to do, so make sure you know who is doing what - and get it done quickly.Clients, Suppliers and EmployeesYou want to take care of your business, but don’t forget the people. Make sure you’ve accounted for emergency payroll if you can’t get to your checks and the business software to account for them. Work with vendors to ensure they understand the situation and when they will be paid. If you have orders that need to be delivered, call the customers, don’t assume they’ve heard you have problems that might mean delays.As you are designing your BCP, don’t forget to include accounting systems and how you plan to track documents and expenses during this event. Resource ListIf you need more delivery vehicles, do you know where you can rent them? How about a business service site that will charge you to use their fax machines or copy machine? Is there an internet café nearby where you can use a computer and the internet? All of these resources can be useful in a major event, but they can also help out if you lose just a piece of the puzzle.For example: Your internet server is down, but you need to email a bid by a specific deadline. If you know where to go to get service, it could save several hours of searching and save the job. Cross-Section PlanningAs you are holding meetings and coming up with the plans, make sure and include a cross-section of employees in the planning phase. You’d be amazed at what the employees know that management has often forgotten or never known. For instance, how much of your business is mail order? Do you have any idea of how many packages you send out a day? Are the orders on a backup system and could they be filled by your supplier?Keeping your business up and running when there has been a disruption, takes planning, forward thinking, and a lot of what ifs. |
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