A business development phase follows a routine life cycle and chances are that an unexpected clash might turn down the business upside down if not managed with care. What if the company is hit by a sudden drop? Are there backup plans for rising back to the same level? The answer to all such questions can be extracted with the help of Business Continuity Management.
What is Business Continuity?
Risks are attached to every move in a business venture. A decent management strategy is wrapped around identifying the potential risks, preparing to overcome them, and dealing wisely to level up the business during and after that period. Business continuity ensures that an organization can withstand the storms walking past and continue to work even in case of adversity.
Setbacks Covered Under Business Continuity
The storm could hit a business in multifarious forms. Some of them are:
- Natural calamities like flood, earthquake, landslide etc.
- Fire, or giant accidents
- Data loss/Back-up Failure
- Server Crash
- Virus Attack
- Staff Scarcity
- Financial risks
- Deteriorating brand image
- Supply chain risks and the list goes on.
The Pillar Elements
For proper business continuity maintenance, it is required to focus on the following three pillars:
- Resilience: The capacity of the firm to recover quickly from the issues it faces is essential for its success.
- Recovery: Just in the worst case situation, the company gets hit by a disaster, it needs a strategy to recover from the losses and restore the functionalities.
- Contingency: The risk possibility analysis is important to do away with the slightest factors which could account for abysmal outcomes.
Following the Standards
Following these standards help to step one step closer towards an authorized plan. They are:
- International Organization for Standardization
- National Fire Protection Association
- ASIS International (ASIS)
- British Standard
- National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST)
The Top 8 Ways To Ensure Effective Business Continuity
- The very first tip is to prepare an effective business continuity plan for handling issues which the company is prone to. So, if the high-risk segments of the business are clearly identified, then plans for mitigating them or possibly handling them could be developed.
- Abide by the standards set by the international or the national committee. This would ensure that the fallacies are not because you did not follow the rules.
- Follow the proper risk management strategy at every phase of your business.
- In the case of adversities, notify all level of the business personnel to manage with their degree of expectation.
- Performing the testing operation more often can help. Most of the business units go for tests just once a year. The frequency should be increased.
- Revise the budget plans as and when required: sticking to the budget plan can be daunting as the scenarios would change. Revise the plan and stick on how to fix the current issues first.
- Do a supply chain analysis: Doing so, the company can identify the existing potholes and come up with the required solutions.
- Reviewing the documentation on regular basis: A proper documentation of the analysis done so far is crucial in extracting the essence out of it. A proper review of these documentations can be a source of valuable information.
The business continuity plans need to be updated from time to time. With the fast changing system, the steps for protecting the interests of the organization must be in lieu of the recent developments. The company needs to follow strict rules to abide by, in order to deal with the risks and disasters it is prone to in a small amount of time. This guide can help such organizations undertake a full-fledged step towards the same. Business continuity will prevent market share loss, it will build protect your and your client’s assets all the time and it will also improve the communication within the organization.
