As a business leader, you know the importance of having your ducks in a row. Planning is essential for your business to succeed.
One plan that many small and medium-sized businesses often overlook is a business continuity plan. What will you do when disaster (natural or otherwise) strikes? Rather than respond on the fly, the best solution is to plan out your response and actions ahead of time.
We know that no business leader relishes the possibility that disaster will strike their organization. The ramifications can be costly and damaging.
In this article, we’ll explore the value of a business continuity plan.
As vice president, engineering, at Kelser Corporation, I work with organizations just like yours and will help you understand the value of a business continuity plan (and the peace of mind it will provide).
What Is A Business Continuity Plan?
A business continuity plan is your organization's blueprint for navigating unexpected disruptions. It outlines the steps you'll take if, say, a natural disaster shuts down your office or a cyber incident locks you out of your data.
It includes actions to take and identifies who is responsible for taking them. It may or may not include a timeline and should include contact information for all relevant external resources (including attorneys, government officials, customers, suppliers, and other impacted parties).
Related article: 10 Steps To Include In Your IT Disaster Recovery Plan
Do Small & Medium-Sized Businesses Need A Business Continuity Plan?
A quick internet search shows that between 25 and 40 percent of businesses never recover from a natural disaster. And, Cybercrime Magazine reports that “60 percent of small companies go out of business within six months of falling victim to a data breach or cyber attack.” The data doesn’t lie.
Every business, no matter the size, should have a business continuity plan in place. And, the more details you include, the better off your response will be when things go wrong.
You may want to think about specific scenarios and how your response would differ.
Business continuity planning is one part of an overall comprehensive approach to securing your business that should also include technology tools to monitor your infrastructure and detect suspicious activity.
A single day of downtime can cost you customers, revenue, and your reputation. A business continuity plan minimizes the damage, ensuring your business has what it needs to bounce back quickly.
How Do Business Continuity Plans Work?
One of the first steps to developing a business continuity plan is to identify your mission-critical functions and potential threats to each. How would you respond if you were hit by ransomware? What would you do if an unauthorized user accessed your payroll information? What happens if a storm or fire makes physical or remote access to your facility, data, and systems impossible?
A business continuity plan can be as general or detailed as you need, but make sure to put in the thinking and planning time required to proactively plan your response in different scenarios.
Identify key roles and stakeholders and establish clear communication channels. Take proactive steps now to ensure regular, effective backup practices so that you know how to access what you need in an emergency to help your business can rebound as quickly as possible.
What Technology Tools Are Leveraged In A Business Continuity Plan?
Technology tools play a crucial role in business continuity planning. But, they must be in place before disaster strikes.
Cloud services, data backups, and communication platforms are some of the tools that can help your business rebound and operate seamlessly when physical locations or systems are impacted. These technology tools combined with documented procedures that everyone is familiar with will help make recovery easier in the event of an incident.
What’s The Bottom Line?
In this article, we’ve explored the importance of business continuity plans. We’ve talked about what a business continuity plan is, whether small and medium businesses need one, how business continuity plans work, and the technology tools that may be leveraged in a business continuity plan.
It’s important to remember that in the same way that safe driving is only one part of recovering from a motor vehicle accident, the right technology tools are only one part of a disaster recovery plan. Documented procedures that all employees know and understand will go a long way toward efficient and effective recovery when something unexpected happens.
Building a strong, resilient business continuity plan is essential for any organization, especially small and medium-sized businesses.
Wondering if your security tools are best practice? Click the button below for a checklist you can use to evaluate your cyber readiness.
At Kelser, we include a full-suite of cybersecurity tools in our managed IT support service option. We know that isn’t the right solution for every business, but if you find yourself wondering if it would be effective for your organization, click the button below and one of our IT solutions experts will reach out to schedule a 15-minute phone call at your convenience to discuss your situation.
If you are just beginning to think about exploring outside IT support, explore your options for external IT support. No matter whether you use internal or outsourced IT support, having a business continuity plan in place will ensure that your organization is well equipped for whatever comes your way.
