Business Continuity Plan Creation
Our Consulting ServicesGetting Back to Business as Usual
As business continuity consultants, it’s our duty to explain exactly what your business can gain, or avoid losing, from having a business continuity plan in place. When disaster strikes, having a tried and tested business continuity plan in place can make all the difference. Discenza Business Continuity Solutions offers comprehensive business continuity plan creation and consulting services to ensure that your business can recover faster from a disaster than those who don’t have a plan. Working closely with your team, using the results of several analysis systems, we will create a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) designed to address the different loss types for which your company is at risk to restore the critical functions of the business, getting you back to “business as usual” as quickly as possible
What is a business continuity plan?
A BCP is a comprehensive document that contains critical information that an organization needs to continue operating during an unplanned disastrous event. A BCP can help maintain business functions, or quickly get them back on track, in the event a major disruption occurs whether through a natural disaster or manmade event, such as a cyberattack. This plan outlines policies and procedures to follow as well as instructions and position assignments that employees should adhere to in a disaster situation. It typically covers business processes, assets, HR, partners, and more.
What’s the difference between disaster recovery and business continuity?
Many people confuse disaster recovery and business continuity. A disaster recovery plan focuses mainly on restoring IT infrastructure after a catastrophic event. A disaster recovery plan is, in fact, part of an overall business continuity plan and a crucial one at that. A BCP looks at the complete continuity of all business processes, including disaster recovery for IT and corresponding systems. When thinking about business continuity vs. disaster recovery, understand that a disaster recovery plan is an important part of your business continuity plan.
Why do you need a business continuity plan?
All businesses need to have strategies for business continuity planning. Having a plan that allows your business to continue operating relatively normally after a disaster is critical in retaining customers. In addition, facing an adverse event with apparent ease can also attract new customers.
What goes into a business continuity plan?
A good business continuity plan covers all aspects of your organization and outlines action steps accordingly. Think through your business’s process and include the following in your BCP:
- Important contact information
- Purpose and scope
- Critical functions
- Critical Suppliers
- How to use the plan, including when it should be initiated
- Insurance information
- Emergency response and roles
- Step-by-step procedures
- A schedule for reviewing, testing, and updating the plan as needed
Working with a company that provides business continuity consulting services, like Discenza Business Continuity Solutions, can help you identify what should be included in your specific business’s plan.
How do you develop a business continuity plan?
Engaging a business continuity consulting firm, like Discenza Business Continuity Solutions, is one of the best ways to develop a comprehensive BCP. However, if you want to start doing a bit of your own planning before bringing in the professionals, then you need to assess your business’s current vulnerability or resilience to disruption. Download the Business Vulnerability and Resilience Template to create an overall score of your business’s vulnerability or resilience to a disruptive event and pinpoint areas where you are weak or strong.
Creating a great BCP means taking your assessment of your business processes for vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and resilience and plan around those for the best possible outcome. Think about the length of time a disaster could continue and plan for that as well.
There are six general steps in creating a Business Continuity Plan.
- Figure out the scope of the plan.
- Determine key business areas.
- Lay out critical functions.
- Determine dependencies between various business areas and functions.
- Evaluate acceptable downtime for each critical function
- Create a plan to maintain operations
Is your business too small for a continuity plan?
No business is too small to be prepared! A plan for a small business is just as important as a plan for a large corporation. Even if you’re a small team, never assume that your staff will know what to do in the event of an emergency without a plan. Whether your business employs 10 or 10,000, having a business continuity plan puts everyone on the same page and forms a cohesive direction that people can easily follow. This means your business can get back to normal as quickly as possible.
Want More Information?
Call or Contact us today to set up an appointment to ensure the resiliency of your company.
Discenza Business Continuity Solutions
203-305-1299
Serving the MId-Atlantic Region, including Philadelphia, New York, Washington D.C. Baltimore, Connecticut, and Nationwide