What Is It?
We’ve all experienced that moment of regret or panic, just after an unexpected tragedy has struck when we think, “I should have prepared for this!” It is bad enough to have this experience when caught outside in the rain without an umbrella or while searching for a recipe ingredient in the fridge as your family waits for dinner. But it is truly frightening when the future of your business, your employees and your financial plans all hanging in the balance.
A business continuity plan is what you need to be prepared so that even when the worst happens you are prepared to move forward as quickly, easily and safely as possible. This plan should be considered alongside your traditional business insurance, which will ensure that all aspects of recovery are covered.
One way to look at a continuity plan is to say that “a business continuity plan is a roadmap for continuing operations under adverse conditions such as a storm or a crime.” That means it is the answer to questions as small as, “What happens if we lose power for a day?” and as big as, “How do we proceed in the event of a major disaster?”
Why Do You Need It?
There are as many reasons to have a business continuity plan as there are businesses out there, but here are the top three reasons why any business, in any industry, needs to plan ahead.
- The risk of business interruption is real, and may be growing, according to an Alliaz Risk Barometer survey.
“In many cases, business interruption is caused by natural disasters, the second-largest business risk (44 percent of responses). Although 2012 was a relatively moderate year for natural catastrophes – with the exception of Hurricane Sandy – this is no reason to sound the all-clear: “Insurance claims caused by natural disasters have risen 15-fold over the past 30 years. And they will continue to grow because of the increase in insured assets in Asia, in particular, and the ongoing shift towards development in high-risk coastal regions,” explains Markus Stowasser, meteorologist at Allianz Re. Europe, too, can expect more frequent local weather extremes such as heavy rainfall.”
- Employees need to know what to expect. There are laws requiring the posting of emergency procedures in public, including instructions on where to go and which doors to exit. This has been shown to greatly reduce panic, and the same principal applies when employees are facing extraordinary circumstances on any scale.
- Data is everything. Even before the idea of the “cloud” became popular, we at Continuity Centers knew the value of backing up data. Your business runs on information and we want to provide you the access to your information when it is needed most. We have been doing this work for over a decade and have made the process of recovery process simple and efficient for our clients.
Do you have questions? Would you like to discuss business continuity with an expert? We want to hear from you. Please, contact us!