The Benefits of Business Continuity Planning

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) minimises the disruption to your business from any unexpected events or disasters. Staff will know their responsibilities in such situations, and will be able to respond to the events following an agreed procedure. This will ensure that your business-critical systems are up and running in the shortest possible time.

There are additional benefits of having a business continuity plan in place:

• In some industries it is a regulatory requirement to have a recovery plan in place
• Effective business continuity management can help businesses demonstrate that they are managing their business risks and so help to secure lower insurance premiums
• Identify and understand the ‘real’ dangers that it faces through the use of risk analysis. In this respect, successful organisations are those that analyse and manage risk over the long term
• Differentiate through the use of a business impact analysis between its key functions, and other more peripheral functions. Once these are determined, it is necessary to put in place contingency plans, which ensure the immediate continuity of key functions during any eventuality
• Meet customers' needs through careful continuity planning during instances of a business interruption, thereby retaining their support and loyalty
• Protect an organisation’s public image and reputation by increasing its level of credibility via proactive, rather than reactive, approach
• Prevent/reduce the loss of organisational revenue

Business Continuity Management (BCM) brings structure and process to dealing with risks that threaten the very existence of your business.

Reasons for BCM failure

• Lack of commitment
• Lack of BCM experience and knowledge
• Lack of ownership
• Lack of focus
• Too time consuming at BIA (Business Impact Analysis) stage