80% of businesses affected by a major incident close within 18 months. Nearly
one in five businesses suffer a major disruption every year. Would your business
survive?
You will know as well as anyone that running a business can be Unpredictable.
You never know what's around the corner. But have you thought about how you
would cope if your business was involved In another Buncefield, or a foot and
mouth outbreak, or a fuel crisis?
Your Business could fail because of something that is not your fault or that you
can't control. You don't even need to be directly involved.
Your business, suppliers or customers could be severely affected by disruptions
like extreme weather, widespread flu, utility failure or flooding.
- Would you and your staff know what to do in the event of a serious disruption?
- Do you keep copies of your important information off the premises?
- Could you survive if one of your suppliers could not deliver for weeks after an incident?
- Do you know the impact a temporary closure would have on your customers? Would they come back?
Did you answer yes to all the questions? It may not be enough. There
are some really simple steps that you could take to increase the chances of your
business surviving a disruption. Some don't even need to cost you anything
and won't take up very much of your time.
Business Continuity Management (BCM) is a process that helps businesses manage
the risks to the smooth running of the business or delivery of a service,
ensuring continuity of your Critical functions in the event of a disruption. A
Business Continuity Plan sets out the clear roles and responsibilities. It lists
a series of contingencies that enable key business activities to continue in the
most difficult of circumstances.
A Business Continuity Plan will address all the requirements essential to
keeping the business running and includes processes to keep disruption to
customers and employees to a minimum. In short, Business Continuity is about
ensuring that a crisis is managed effectively before it escalates to a disaster.
Remember: Failing to plan is planning to fail!