Business Continuity Plans (BCP) – the difference between survival and failure?

Running a business is a risky affair and unplanned, disruptive events can, and do, happen. These events could include a natural disaster (e.g., flooding), a cyber-attack, fire, or an IT outage.  When these situations occur, your customers, suppliers and your employees will be looking to the business to get back up and running as soon as possible. In these high stress environments, a well-constructed BCP can save critical time and enable a business to reduce the immediate disruption and potential longer term harm to income and reputation.

What needs to be included in a BCP?

A BCP is a working document that needs to change over time to remain relevant to your business. The most organised businesses will also share this with their key team members, so everyone knows what the plan is and what their responsibilities are.

We would recommend that a BCP includes reference to the following:

• An assessment of the key risks and the level of impact on the business.
• The allocation of roles and responsibilities and the priorities for those individuals
• An effective communication plan for key employees, customers and suppliers
• A business recovery plan which includes details of all the professionals you will need help from.
• A periodic testing and training regime so staff are fully aware of how to implement the plan.

The advantages of having a BCP

A BCP can help businesses:

• Identify, assess, and mitigate risks and financial exposure before a disruptive event takes place.
• Minimise downtime and costs following an incident which will help the business recover quicker.
• Protect the reputation and brand, whilst also providing customers, suppliers and employees with confidence and trust.
• Demonstrate that they are able to meet  regulatory and contractual requirements.

At Verlingue we help many of our clients write and update their BCPs. If you would like further information regarding a BCP or would like to discuss how we can assist your business, please contact Gayle Bennouir.