Business Continuity and the Economy

Hurricanes, tornados, flash flooding, fires, power outages... all of these can close your doors for periods from a couple of hours to several days. Over the years, business continuity studies have shown that companies that experience a computer outage or other disruption lasting more than 10 days will never fully recover financially and half of them will be out of business within five years. Given this information, and with the current state of the global economy, investing in a disaster recovery/business continuity plan may be the only way to ensure you'll still be around when the economy recovers. Read on...

Unless you're expecting not to be around next week, continuity planning should still be on your agenda. (Item #1)   Bring the issue of business continuity management higher up the boardroom agenda and prepare for the potential fall outs from political instability, social unrest and economic meltdown. (Item #2)   A modular approach to continuity planning could be the answer in a slow economy. (Item #3)  

If you want to avoid high disaster recovery costs, providing your business a dependable safety net will do you a lot of good. (Item #4)   A strong business continuity environment provides assurance to the organization's executive management that in the event of a disaster, the organization is in a superior position to survive. (Item #5)   Unsettled economic conditions can cause numerous business continuity challenges. (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. Business Continuity during a Recession

The value of a business continuity program depends upon the probability of it being used, and if a company is less likely to be here tomorrow for market or economic reasons, then it is less likely that there will ever be the opportunity for a disaster recovery plan to be put into effect. However, companies generally seriously under-estimate the value of their business continuity plans in good times. Even if the chances of the plan being used are less, the value of the plan is probably more than most people think.
http://www.riskythinking.com/articles/article38.php

2. With the release of ISO 22301, businesses are urged to implement a business continuity plan

With the global economic recovery stagnant and businesses experiencing budget challenges, BSI today reveals their top five tips for organizations to ensure they are prepared for any type of disruption including social, political and economic threats. The tips, which coincide with the release of a new standard for business continuity management (BCM), ISO 22301 outline an approach to implement precautionary measures against issues such as strikes, mass supply chain disruption, political unrest and customer loss.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/with-the-release-of-iso-22301-businesses-are-urged-to-implement-a-business-continuity-plan-2012-05-16

3. Business Continuity Planning In Difficult Economic Times

In these challenging economic times, many companies are choosing to postpone or eliminate business continuity planning from their budgets, even though they may have no plan at all in place. This being the case, security professionals may want to try a more modular approach to safeguarding the company's assets. Since it focuses on only one application environment at a time, the scope-and thus the cost-is much reduced.
http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/recovery/business-continuity-planning-difficult-economic-times_1114

4. Disaster Recovery Costs and How to Avoid Them

When a bad economy is not letting up, it's easy to forgo disaster recovery equipment or measures to save on associated costs. Come to think of it, disasters don't happen daily, do they? However, should a disaster does occur, do you foresee the consequences of making your business vulnerable to the worst? Often, disaster recovery costs are highest among businesses with no safety-net from manmade or natural disasters.
http://www.businesscontinuitydisasterrecovery.info/disaster-recovery-costs-and-how-to-avoid-them.html

5. Business Continuity: A Business Survival Strategy

Business continuity plans (BCP) are no longer a luxury, but an essential element of an organization's risk management program. For many organizations, the decision to invest in BCP is being forced upon them by legislation, third parties (e.g., insurers) or the occurrence of a disaster or near disaster.
http://www.isaca.org/Journal/Past-Issues/2002/Volume-1/Pages/Business-Continuity-A-Business-Survival-Strategy.aspx

6. Business Continuity Risk Management for an Economic Downturn

When the economic crisis began, many companies quickly focused on cost containment without regard for the long-term consequences; it was a matter of survival. As the downturn continues, companies are now focused on managing emerging risks that could have an impact on long-term sustainability. Companies are realizing that certain risks remain or have been intensified by their actions and mitigation or contingency plans need to be developed for their ongoing survival.
http://ro.marsh.com/news/sfaturi/documents/BusinessContRiskMgmtForEcon.pdf