When stories appear in the news concerning businesses that have been devastated by flooding, fire or power failure, many take the view, “it will never happen to us”. However, the growing number of issues threatening UK business can’t be ignored forever – it’s time to look at whether your business would survive if disaster strikes.
This guide will help you take a proactive approach to business continuity, and aims to prevent the risk of loss of revenue, brand trust and much more should your phone and data systems be unavailable for a prolonged period of time.
In today’s increasingly technology-focused world of business, the effects of extended power outages can be catastrophic. While prolonged problems are currently few and far between, the expected ‘energy gap’ many providers are warning their customers about could have very real consequences for you.
Extreme weather is another danger that is producing much anxiety among business owners, and with good reason 2012 was one of Britain’s wettest years on record, with unprecedented amounts of rainfall wreaking havoc on businesses all over the country.Extreme weather is another danger that is producing much anxiety among business owners, and with good reason 2012 was one of Britain’s wettest years on record, with unprecedented amounts of rainfall wreaking havoc on businesses all over the country.
Over £1 billion was paid out in the UK by insurance companies for damage caused by flooding.
If you do not have a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) in place already, or in light of reading the section above feel you are especially vulnerable to certain threats, now is the time to act.
Understand your business.
The first step when creating a BCP is to identify the elements of your business that are critical to its continued success.
Measure the risk.
Now you know the most important elements of your business, work through each threat listed in the first section of this guide and consider how it will affect the continuity of your service.
Define your strategy.
Once risks have been defined and assessed, you need to consider your continuity strategy.
Construct you business continuity plan.
Once each of the above points has been satisfied, you can now put together your BCP. Once complete, conducting exercises for different scenarios in the plan is highly recommended.