That will never happen to us!
Disasters today, are happening to all kinds of organizations. Are you prepared? Does your organization have a plan to quickly recover from something unexpected?
Creating a business continuity plan is the best way to prepare your organization in the event of extended service outages caused by factors beyond our control (e.g. natural and man-made events) and to restore services to the widest extent possible in a minimum time frame. All organizations are expected to implement preventive measures whenever possible to minimize operational disruptions and to recover as quickly as possible. Some insurance companies are starting to require this planning as a prerequisite for coverage.
The primary objective of a Business Continuity Plan is to enable an organization to survive a disaster and to re-establish normal business operations within a reasonable time frame. Therefore, the goals of the Business Continuity Plan are:
- Identify weaknesses and implement a disaster prevention plan
- Minimize the duration of a serious disruption to business operations
- Facilitate effective co-ordination of recovery tasks
- Reduce the complexity of the recovery effort
- Identify vendors and customers that need to be notified in the event of a disaster
- Identify alternate sources for supplies, resources, and locations
- Document storage, safeguarding, and retrieval procedures for vital records
Disaster planning is very important, and few people would argue that point. Unfortunately, most people postpone disaster planning until it’s too late. The reasons why are endless, but common ones given include:
- “Making a plan is too much work”
- “A plan costs too much money”
- “We’re never going to be hit by a disaster where we are”
Have you ever heard or said one of those reasons before? If so, keep reading…
IMPORTANT NOTE: Every 5 years a company experiences a disaster.
In a way, businesses affected by a disaster are a lot like heart attack victims. The news reports and magazines are filled with information on how to prevent having a heart attack. However, many people wait until after they actually have a heart attack to begin the change to a healthier lifestyle. Had they taken some precautions ahead of time, they may have been able to prevent a very unfortunate and painful situation.
You never know what will happen, and you can’t always trust history. Just because a disaster has never hit your area before doesn’t mean it won’t happen now or in the future. Climates change, water levels rise, hurricanes make landfall, tornadoes touch down, computer systems fail, and sometimes the bad guys get in and destroy everything. Any number of things can happen. So unless you have access to a reliable crystal ball, you need to plan – and you need to start planning today!