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Creating a business continuity plan
A recent report by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has revealed that many business owners in the UK are not
sufficiently prepared to handle unexpected disruption to their business.
A business continuity plan can help to safeguard your
business against both internal and external disasters.
By considering the points below, you can help
to ensure that your business continuity plan
covers some of the major areas of risk.
Cybercrime
Cybercrime, such as phishing emails
and malware, can cause a great deal of
disruption to a business, especially if you
rely on the use of computers and other
devices for a significant part of your work.
In order to protect your business against the
risks, you need to ensure that you download and
install the latest software updates on all company
devices, and that you are using a suitable firewall and
anti-virus system, which is also updated regularly.
Implementing a robust password policy for work devices is key to
protecting against cybercrime. It is also advisable to create a company
policy on how to identify potential cybercrime issues, which can
be circulated to all staff members. Ensuring that your policies and
procedures cover mobile workers is key.
Finally, make sure that you back up data from all computers onto an
external drive or a cloud storage system on a regular basis.
Loss of key staff members
If your business relies on key individuals, you need to consider how it
would be affected if anything happened to them. A key staff member
could be yourself, another director or an employee who is essential to
the successful running of your business.
Key person insurance will protect your company against any potential
financial loss. Keeping up-to-date notes on each key person’s
responsibilities, and ensuring that another person can act as a
back-up when required, is crucial to enable your business to continue
to run smoothly.
Severe weather and unexpected incidents
Adverse weather conditions, such as heavy snowfall, could mean that
staff are unable to come in to the office. In addition, fire or flooding
and thefts or accidents can happen at any time and could cause
severe disruption to your business.
It is essential to have in place an appropriate and
up-to-date buildings and contents insurance
policy. If you have records saved on an external
drive, you should ensure that a copy is
kept in a secure location off-site. Where
relevant, ensure prototypes of your
products or services are kept off-site too.
Transport disruptions can also affect
businesses financially. Staff delays or
no-shows often mean that production is
halted or deadlines are not met.
In both scenarios, offering staff the option
to work from home or at an alternative
location may help to reduce the impact and
allow your business to continue operating.
Creating a disaster recovery team
Creating a dedicated disaster recovery team could help your business
to plan for any potential catastrophes. Your disaster recovery
team should analyse potential areas of risk and have responsibility
for overseeing the running of the business until normal service
can resume.
Your business continuity plan
A robust business continuity plan should ideally include:
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the names and emergency contact details of your disaster
recovery team
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your insurance policy details
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step-by-step instructions on how to recover from some of
the main scenarios which could affect your business
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procedures for testing the plan, to ensure that it is effective
and to iron out any issues
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a timeframe for regular reviews, to make sure that your
plan remains up-to-date and reflects any changes to
your business.
We can advise on a range of strategies to help with the
smooth running of your business.
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