Should you use business continuity planning?

Should you use business continuity planning? Yes, but let's take a look at why:

Business continuity planning (BCP) is a methodology used to create and validate an exercised logistical plan for how a company will recover and restore partially or completely interrupted critical functions within a predetermined time after a disaster or extended disruption.Or in easier and plainer terms its how to resume the running of your business or organization after you have been hit by an emergency or disaster.It could be something like a localized power outage or something as national and long term as a pandemic illness. A business continuity plan can be used by any organization as a learning effort that helps reduce operational risk associated with lack of managerial control during a disaster. This process can be combined with improving information security and corporate reputation risk management practices.

So the next question would be how is this done?A formal printed manual becomes available in a completed business continuity plan cycle.This manual serves as a reference to the plan itself. It is used to reduce the impact as it is determined by both the scope of the disaster (meaning who and what it affects) and the duration of the disaster (meaning how bad it is and will the implications last for hours versus months etc). These types of disasters are measured in business impact analysis and include civil, economic, natural, technical and secondary types of crises.

Business continuity planning is not a new concept. Throughout history most organizations have had a plan in case of a disaster.The interest in business continuity planning reached a height prior to January 1, 2000, when governments anticipated computer failures, (known as the Y2K problem), in important public utility infrastructures like banking, power, telecommunication, health and financial industries. When the anticipated problems failed to materialize many analysts waned in their interest in business continuity planning. Some believe this lax attitude came to an end September 11th 2001, when simultaneous terrorist attacks devastated downtown New York City and changed the 'worst case scenario' paradigm for business continuity planning. Suddenly businesses of all sizes were forced to confront their greatest moment of crises.The payoff for using a business continuity plan becomes evident in the statistics of recent business disasters.Fires permanently closed 44% of the businesses affected in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and 150 businesses out of 350 affected failed to survive the event. Comparing with the firms affected by the Sept 11 attacks with well-developed and tested BCP manuals were back in business within days.

For a small organization a BCP manual may only contain the names, addresses and phone numbers for crisis management staff, general staff members, clients and vendors.This is usually kept in a printed manual stored safely away from the primary work location.In addition it many include the location of the offsite data backup storage media, copies of insurance contracts, and other critical materials necessary for organizational survival. A more complex version may be needed with a BCP manual outlining a secondary work site, technical requirements and readiness, regulatory reporting requirements, work recovery measures, the means to reestablish physical records, the means to establish a new supply chain, or the means to establish new production centers. Companies should ensure that their BCP manual is realistic and easy to use during a crisis.

So should you use a business continuity plan? The answer is a resounding yes! History has shown us that those who are prepared really do have nothing to fear.By taking the correct steps to establish a business continuity plan companies can insure their business will be able to continue running even under the direst of circumstances.