Business Continuity Planning

A business continuity plan won't protect an organization against all reasons for failure, but it can prepare and protect you against a great many such reasons. Insurance doesn't protect against everything, either, and you may never have to make a claim. Would you consider running your business without insurance? Probably not. Nor should you fail to have a business continuity plan at the ready - just in case. This week's articles can help you rethink your business continuity strategies.

This article focuses on three of the most widespread and persistent of myths about the nature of crises. (Item #1)   For top management to dedicate funds and resources to contingency planning, more than a demonstrable need must be shown. (Item #2)   Are we in danger of forgetting the most important aspect of recovery? (Item #3)  

Here's advice for those faced with developing their first business continuity plan. (Item #4)  
To avoid becoming a casualty of succession statistics, senior management must come to grips with passing on the assets and management control from one generation to the next. (Item #5)   Recessions amplify risks; the absence of a tested plan is much more dangerous in a recession. (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. The nature of crises: exploring some persistent myths

These myths can be seen simply as convenient excuses to avoid spending time and money on business continuity; however they actually demonstrate some important psychological phenomena with broader significance for resilience...
http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0689.html

2. Pitching Preparedness

When it comes to contingency planning, what does an organization really have to show for its money and effort? For those sophisticated enough to realize it, the much-maligned yet ubiquitous three-inch red binder simply does not cut it anymore. More and more companies are looking for tangible, quantifiable results from their business continuity efforts and expenditures.
http://www.rothstein.com/articles/pitching.html

3. The human resource and business continuity management

The author is concerned that we are forgetting the unpredictable human element of a response to any incident, and starting to think of people as just another resource or dependency. This kind of detached planning - planning in a vacuum - misses a fundamental point: people are highly complex composites, with multi faceted and malleable personalities that have the potential to change over time in response to new experiences and external pressures.
http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0716.html

4. A business continuity management primer

Business continuity management is about fostering a risk culture within your organisation, and as with all cultural shifts, it requires ongoing change management and a lot of time. So get prepared for a long campaign, hopefully with many little wins rather than one big failure.
http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0568.htm

5. Succeeding at succession can avoid financial ruin

Fire, flood, explosions, even widespread theft, can certainly spell disaster for a small company. There is, however, another catastrophe waiting to happen in the form of financial ruin -- the failure to pass the torch of ownership to a new generation of owners and managers.
http://www.rothstein.com/articles/succeed.html

6. Business Continuity during a Recession

Let's start by admitting the obvious. As the risk of a company getting wiped out by an economic storm increases, the value of its business continuity or disaster recovery functions diminishes. This is common sense, and it is foolish to claim otherwise. 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.
http://www.riskythinking.com/articles/article38.php