Business Continuity Planning

It's hard to believe that some organizations still do not have business continuity plans. Odds are that this lack of planning will catch up with them at some point. If you're one of those companies, or if your plan is outdated, check out this week's articles and get busy safeguarding the future of your organization.

Begin planning now to ensure your survivability. (Item #1)   Here are some steps for small businesses to take in creating a BCP. (Item #2)   Continuity planning is something that many companies fail to plan for. (Item #3)  

It's more likely that a commonplace event will cause your disaster than any kind of cataclysmic event. (Item #4)   Where does BCP report in your organization? (Item #5)   Do you know how much a BCP would be worth to your organization? (Item #6)  

As always, we look forward to hearing your comments & insights regarding business continuity. If you have a topic you'd like us to cover, email me at [email protected].

Bob Mellinger, President
Attainium Corp

1. Continuity of Operations Planning

How quickly your company can get back to business after a terrorist attack or tornado, fire or flood often depends on emergency planning done today. Start planning now to improve the likelihood that your company will survive and recover.
http://www.ready.gov/business/plan/planning.html

2. How to Create a Business Continuity Plan

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is the least expensive insurance any company can have (especially for small companies, as it costs virtually nothing to produce). Unfortunately, many companies have never taken the time to develop such a plan. Here you will see suggested steps and considerations, in an abbreviated way, for small companies to create a BCP that will improve their chances of continuing operations during or after significant disasters.
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Business-Continuity-Plan

3. So Much to Do, So Little Time

The potential demand for succession planning and conflict management by family businesses is enormous. However, that demand lays virtually dormant. Could denial and ego be the cause of such neglect? With well over 25 million small businesses in the United States, of whom more than 90% are family-operated, the mission of family business institutes is a daunting challenge. Certainly, if institutes were to serve as consultants to family businesses, their mission would be physically impossible. Instead, they do this not by focusing on those challenges that are unique to family-operated businesses.
http://ezinearticles.com/?So-Much-to-Do,-So-Little-Time&id=5823768

4. Keeping Your Organization Viable for the Future

For generations to come, September 11, 2001, will be remembered as a day in which innocent lives were lost and businesses were destroyed. Yet, it doesn't take a cataclysmic event to threaten the viability of a business or your nonprofit organization. Torrential rainstorms, computer hackers, embezzlement, or accusations of sexual improprieties can bring your services to a standstill or destroy them forever.
http://www.nonprofitrisk.org/library/articles/crisis11132002.shtml

5. Where does Business Continuity Planning belong in an Organization?

Industry insiders say the need for a change in the reporting structure for BC is still not being recognized. When asked in a recent survey where Business Continuity belongs (or to whom it should report) in an organization, the field was split almost 50/50 between Risk Management and the CEO. This suggests that Business Continuity is not receiving the endorsement it needs from the executive suite. The responsibility of BC often falls under the jurisdiction of Information Technology, with BC reporting to IT three times as often as reporting to the President or CEO of an organization.
http://www.disaster-resource.com/articles/08p_015.shtml

6. How Much is a Business Continuity Plan Worth (Part 2)

In part 1 we developed the optimal strategy for a radio show game: a list of increasing prize amounts was read out and the caller had to call Stop to win the last amount called out. The catch was that an alarm clock had been set for an unknown time. The longer the player delayed before calling Stop, the more he or she won. But if the alarm clock went off before the caller called Stop, the caller would end up with nothing. We likened delays on the part of the caller to the decision to defer developing a Business Continuity Plan, and the effect of the alarm clock going off to the occurrence of an incident which would wipe out the company. In this second part we look in more detail at how much a Business Continuity Plan is worth.
http://www.riskythinking.com/articles/article26.php