You don’t need to be repeatedly told just how important risk management is. If you did, you probably wouldn’t have made it this far. One problem you see from business owners today is that while they understand just how many problems there are--and which ones they need to find solutions for first--they want to grow their company so fast that they overlook potential problems and end up hurting their business as a result. This month, we thought we would talk a little bit about contingency planning and how, if it is done right, it can have a marked effect on your business’ ability to carry-on after a problematic event. 

A Little Background 

One of the biggest risks a business owner needs to address is what needs to happen if there is a situation where their business is disrupted. There has to be a series of actions taken that will allow for a thorough assessment of the situation and a return to productivity. These tasks don’t just solve the problems surrounding an issue, they are a strategy to ensure operational resilience.

Business as Usual

Your whole business often has small interruptions, but when there are significant delays, it can start to cost your business a lot of money. A lack of revenue generating action--any bout of lengthy downtime--is very detrimental to the sustainability of your business, regardless of what it is that you do. This is because the costs don’t just disappear the minute the work stops, and typically your biggest expenses are tied to production. 

Continuity, In the Information Age

Business continuity planning hasn’t changed all that much, it just has to take into account the numerous moving parts your business has. Of course, the more technology your business uses, the more it needs to be considered, especially if its failure puts a stoppage to your business’ forward momentum. That’s why it is important for your plan not to be some half-baked shell, but a complete, step-by-step and tested plan. 

You will want to start by making a list of people that need to be in the loop if there were to be some major continuity problem with your business. This list should have the names, addresses, and contact information of all parties that would be responsible for any section of your business. It is going to be important to actively verify that the contact information is up to date, as well as train those employees on their roles if your business continuity plan is to succeed. 

Take Action

A business continuity recovery action plan is a plan that incrementally works to recover your business practices. If your organization’s continuity plan extends to off-site locations, your action plan should extend to all processes and procedures that will help set-up and move your business’ operations to the new location. Most tasks should be assigned a specific timeline for completion, with the highest priority tasks coming first.

Customer Care

Effective customer relations are a critical process in normal business conditions. When you are dealing with a critical failure, solid relationships can keep you in business. You will want to contact your suppliers and vendors. Keeping your supply chain from failing has to be a major point of emphasis, no matter what type of business you run. This goes double if your business is a key vendor for other business’ supply chains. Making sure that your business’ relationships remain solid, and that you help your partners restore “business as usual”, is essential for your business’ return to form. 

Managing Data and Technology

When setting up your continuity plan you will want to point out which systems are critical to keeping your business together. You will also want to have a solid estimate of what it is going to take to restore these systems if they should be taken offline. You will also need to know what other tools you will need to get back up and running again, and how much time they will need to work. 

For technological systems, having a strong backup and recovery strategy in place can be a complete game changer. Not only do today’s backup platforms provide fast recovery options, they also are hosted in off site data centers that can function as emergency servers should something happen to your hardware. 

Testing Your BC Platform

You will want to keep auditing and testing your BC platform to both take into account new systems and procedures and to ensure that when the time comes, that it will work correctly. Nothing would set your business back more than investing all the time and money into a business continuity platform only for it to fail you. It may just be the straw that breaks the camel's back, so to speak. Keep testing it and it will respond when you need it most. 

If you would like some help ascertaining your next step, or if you would like to talk to one of our IT experts about business continuity, call Dresner Group today at (410) 531-6727.