Preparing for business continuity involves writing a comprehensive continuity plan. This is a 5-step process that allows you to predict and then prepare to resolve any possible risk to your business’ integrity and continued operations.

1. Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

The first step of any business continuity plan is to perform risk assessment followed by business impact analysis (BIA). 

Risk assessment is the process of identifying all possible threats to your business that might reasonably occur. Common risks may include:

• Location Risks
  • Fire, flood, and physical damage to the building, including your stored equipment
  • Blocked access to the building
  • Interrupted utilities like power or water to the building or region
  • Interrupted internet access to the building or region
• Weather Risks
  • A natural disaster and regional evacuation
  • A large storm that becomes dangerous between or during business hours
• Industry Risks
  • Supply chain interruption
  • Damaged or lost inventory
• Cybersecurity and Data Risks
  • Cybersecurity lockdown attack, like ransomware
  • Cybersecurity infection or intrusion and data theft
  • Insider data theft
  • Data loss due to file corruption
  • Data loss due to human error
  • Major software or cloud network failure

Business Impact Analysis takes each possible risk and compiles a report on the possible impact. For example, most businesses will be less impacted today by loss of access to their central office due to laptops and remote work during an interruption, but a cybersecurity attack or interruption of a cloud software network could spell greater disaster and service interruption.

2. Developing the Plan

For each risk, impact is assessed and then a crisis management plan is devised to prevent or minimize that impact. Businesses that need a physical location may establish a backup location, especially in regions prone to local storms. For cybersecurity disasters, it will be necessary to coordinate an advanced IT response to protect data, identify loss, mitigate loss, expel any malware or hacker presence, and enact data recovery procedures.

In some situations, it may be necessary to hold an emergency board meeting to build an adaptive strategy. In others, more technical or logistic solutions may need to be implemented through assigned duties and actions.

3. Testing and Training

Creating a plan is the first step, but you also need to ensure the plan will work should a disaster occur. Most crisis management plans involve assigning roles to lead or enact each stage of the plan. It may be necessary to train your team members to both know their roles and the best way to perform in a crisis.

We suggest holding periodic training routines to practice putting recovery plans into action and ensure everyone knows how to act quickly in the event of a real disaster.

4. Communication Strategy

While your recovery strategy is important, communication plays an equally vital role. Your communication strategy will alert those who need to take action, direct employees to alternate workflows if necessary, and manage external announcements regarding how the company is handling the disaster. This may include informing customers, or making announcements regarding how data security has been defended in spite of a breach.

5. Continuous Review and Improvement

Finally, make sure to regularly review and, if necessary, update your continuity plan. Risk factors, potential impact, and the best way to respond to potential disasters can change over time.