Business Continuity Planning

How's your business continuity plan working for you? What happened when you tested it? If there were failures, are you fixing the cause? A BCP has to be a living thing... you can't write it down, put it on a shelf and expect it to adapt to a situation two years later. It requires updating, re-thinking, and, of course, testing. When's the last time you reviewed and updated it? Don't wait; do it now. Don't have a plan? Start one today.

You've been asked to formalize a business continuity program... now what? (Item #1)     Being prepared is the cornerstone of having a business continuity plan regardless of the size of a company. (Item #2)     This article explores the common business continuity-related mistakes and pitfalls that lead to wasting time, money, and effort and provides solutions. (Item #3)    

Here are a few important components to include in your small business continuity planning program. (Item #4)     Business continuity planning is an area often neglected by technological innovation, but the resulting efficiencies may prove to be a life line and an investment that ultimately pays for itself. (Item #5)     Here are 10 reasons why business continuity plans fail. (Item #6)    

As always, I look forward to hearing about your concerns with regard to business continuity. If there are any topics that you'd like to see covered, email me at [email protected].

Bob Mellinger, President
Attainium Corp

1. How to start a business continuity program

Sometimes you pull the short straw. That's how one CSO felt when his former employer asked him to create a formal business continuity (BC) program for a few years ago. Here are nine tips from the experts.
http://www.csoonline.com/article/2131707/supply-chain-security/how-to-start-a-business-continuity-program.html

2. Constructing a successful business continuity plan

Recently, the world has been bombarded by events that strain the resources necessary to maintain operational capabilities. Natural disasters, cyber attacks, epidemics, and political and military unrest have all captured the world's attention. But while preparedness demands we consider how to deal with these large-scale events, we also need to focus on events that might not make the headlines.
http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20150309/ISSUE0401
/303159991/constructing-a-successful-business-continuity-plan?tags=|302|338

3. Don't Waste Your Time or Money on Business Continuity Planning

No one enjoys wasting resources in any form - effort, time, or money. However, organizations that implement business continuity planning in a haphazard attempt to meet a customer requirement, pass an audit, or simply don't take the time up front to ensure that the proper resources and approach are in place, are setting themselves up to do just that.
http://perspectives.avalution.com/2015/dont-waste-your-time-or-money-on-business-continuity-planning/

4. Continuity Planning for Small Businesses: How to Prepare for Business

Although developing a continuity plan for a small business takes time, documenting action steps to be followed in the event of a loss of power, facilities, personnel, or access to technology may become a key to survival when disaster strikes. It is important to understand that continuity planning is a program -- not a project -- and should never be considered "done."
http://www.paychex.com/articles/finance/continuity-planning-for-small-businesses

5. Forgotten and unloved: does business continuity planning need a make-over?

Business continuity planning (BCP) is an essential but often unloved function that organizations generally hope they never have to test 'in anger'. Focused on planning for major incidents that you hope will never arise, such as floods, fires, power failures or terrorist alerts; BCP sets out how the business will operate following an incident and how to get back to 'business as usual' in the quickest possible time afterwards. The plan itself sets out the agreed arrangements for bringing events under control, the necessary resources for maintaining critical business functions and the staff required for coordinating actions.
http://www.information-age.com/it-management/strategy-and-innovation/123458323/forgotten-and-unloved-does-business-continuity-planning-need-make-over

6. Ten Reasons Why Business Continuity Plans Fail

If you've ever had a BC plan fail, do you know why? Perhaps the answer is in this posting that looks at the causes of failure and could help you succeed in the future.
http://www.htgpeergroups.com/blog/entry/10-reasons-why-business-continuity-plans-fail.html