Important Elements of a Business Continuity Plan
Important Elements of a Business Continuity Plan
There are many details that must be included in a continuity plan. When you're creating one, it's best to start with the important elements to serve as an outline, then add the details as your specific needs are identified.
Each company has different needs depending on the type of business, facility needs, and equipment requirements. But all need to 1) assign responsibilities to management and staff so communication happens immediately, how and to whom, 2) have access to their information, 3) determine a temporary location, and 4) routine updates of the plan.
PEOPLE and COMMUNICATION
The most important element of your plan is your staff and an easy-to-execute communication plan. They go hand-in-hand because without a good communication plan, the designated people will not be able to execute their assigned tasks.
How quickly and precisely they can communicate after a disaster will set all the other elements in motion. Without immediate and precise implementation of your plan, there might as well be no plan at all. Management and staff members must have designated responsibilities, with backups in case those assigned are not available due to vacation, illness or being otherwise unavailable.
Some of the elements to put in place are a call tree so all employees are notified quickly. Other communication procedures will involve notifying customers, vendors and suppliers. Depending on the type of disaster, you might also need to contact public safety officials, your insurance agent and local utilities.
INFORMATION
Data backup is imperative. With an encrypted online backup service, you'll be able to access your information from any computer at any location. To avoid any loss of data, use a service that has continual backup. This means that within seconds of editing a file, it will be updated and saved.
Your backup service should also have redundancies in case the primary location experiences a failure. The redundancy, or mirrored server in a different location, ensures that if one server goes down, there will be at least one other that also has your information.
FACILITY
Needs can vary greatly, depending on the size and scope of a company. For example, a manufacturing company has a very different requirement than a service-related firm. There are many options to consider, and your plan should include alternatives depending on what your determined needs are. If you create a product, you might choose to have a company in line to sub-contract your work to until you are able to move into an appropriate facility and your equipment arrives. Other options that can be considered for your company, depending on your needs, would be to have an agreement with another business to provide space, rent or lease an office building, or even set up in a hotel conference room for short-term temporary offices.
Establishing a location, no matter how temporary, is a physical message to your customers and your employees that you are still in business.
PLAN REVIEW
This is a crucial element for your continuity plan. If it becomes outdated, there could be major glitches in the implementation of the plan. This could turn your temporary business interruption into a permanent shut-down. Test it, revise it, test it again.
Business continuity planning is a time-consuming, detail-oriented process. But if you have a business interruption, you'll see an immediate ROI in time if you do it yourself or in your investment if you hire a firm to complete it for you.
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