When Disaster Strikes | Why business continuity planning is important and why you need it

One can't help be see in the news these days all the uncertain weather, terrorist threats, and potential interrupted utilities.  Just look at what happened in Chicago with traffic control for the airlines.  No working DR plan there. 

Contrary to popular belief, most companies and organizations categorize business continuity planning as risk aversion or an insurance policy. Although similar, business continuity planning comprises the steps, policies and procedures that are activated once a disaster has occurred. The object is to recover as quickly as possible so you can minimize downtime. Having a plan in place saves time, money, and possibly your entire company.  So why so few have one? Test it?  Interesting...........

Here are some favorite questions we get asked all the time:

What type of disasters could impact my business?
Last year, New England suffered through a tornado, hurricane and earthquake over a short period of time. Imagine those events ripping through your company. Beyond those obvious disasters, there are things like computer outages, fires, floods, cyber-attacks, viruses, and a whole host of situations that could affect your organization. Bottom line: Be prepared for the worst-case scenario: a loss of your entire organization, including the physical structure and personnel. Organizations always forget about the staff.  Plan on your local staff not being available in your plan.

So if I have a major disaster, how does a business continuity plan help?
A business continuity plan will not prevent the earthquake, flood or most other types of disasters from happening. What a tested business continuity plan could do is potentially save you thousands, if not millions, of dollars in production losses, your reputation as a business, and your customers and clients. Here's one example. A large manufacturing client in Central Massachusetts says it cannot afford to be down for any length of time. They sometimes have two or three shifts working. It's estimated that if the company was shut down for just one week, it would lose $5 million in production. A clear, concise business continuity plan with policies and procedures could cut that downtime to two or three days. Also, if your competition and your clients find you've suffered a disaster and you cannot respond in a timely manner, your business begins to erode and your clients move to other companies. Once you lose the confidence of your clients, it's extremely difficult to recapture them.  Engage the entire organization in the planning and testing.  Their input is very important.

The business continuity plan is an organizational plan, and every employee has a stake in the planning, up keep and ownership.  When the time comes to utilize that plan, it will take the entire team to ensure success.

Arnett Group not only can help you plan, but test, communicate, train and design your response to any situation.

Keep it positive!

Scott Arnett
scott@arnettservicesgroup.com
www.arnettservicesgroup.com