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Business Continuity Management (BCM)What is Business Continuity All About?Business Continuity Management is about identifying those parts of your business
that you cannot afford to lose. Such as stock, premises, information, staff - and planning how
to maintain these if an incident occurs.
Any incident whether it is large or small, natural accident or deliberate can cause
major disruption to your business however, by planning in advance you will be able to resume your day
to day business sooner. Delays could mean you lose valuable business to your competitors or your
customers may lose faith in you and take their custom elsewhere.
BCM is about safeguarding your business.
Developing a Business Continuity Response / PlanAt a loss as to where to start with your Business Continuity
Programme or You have two options: a) Do nothing b) give some consideration to planning ...... Consider the following in relation to your business:
What would happen if your organisation was subject to:
What are,
if there are any, benefits to introducing effective BCM?
Leicestershire
County Council and Business Continuity
Leicestershire County Council is committed to supporting partner agencies and key
suppliers in developing their business continuity programmes. Our BC Manager will, therefore,
offer free consultation, where practicable, to organisations that require assistance in putting together
an effective business continuity programme.
A variety of templates and other guide documents are available free of charge from
Leicestershire County Council.
Please contact the Business Continuity Manager at Leicestershire County Council
to discuss any queries or requests that you may have with regard to Business Continuity Management.
Email mholliday@leics.gov.uk and telephone 0116 305 6107.
![]() Identify and Understand exactly what Your Business does:
Ask yourself the following questions:
a. IT (e.g. use home PC) b.Telephony and related services (e.g.. use mobile phones) c. Specialised Machinery. Now......
Consider the risk involved with each of key functions or processes you identified
in Question 1
Consider what the impact would be on your business:
By identifying risks
you can also identify areas where processes etc may need to be addressed to mitigate the risk.
Only when you have identified the risks and taken action to ensure that they are
mitigated can you begin to develop a Business Continuity Strategy and ultimately your Business Continuity
Plan.
Develop a Strategy
Identify a suitable strategy (method) as to how you intend to manage a recovery
following a disruption in your organisation.
Use the 7 P Strategy as a guideline.
People- who will be required and what
will their roles and responsibilities be? Programme - How are you going to proactively
manage the recovery programme? Processes - How is your company going
to ascertain, identify all organisational processes and equipment required to ensure that the business
is recovered? Premises - What is the best solution
should you business not be able to occupy its current location or part of it is unavailable? Providers - What is the most suitable
process for notifying service providers, clients, including supply chain, including outsourcing requirements
etc? Profile - What will be the best method
for maintaining your businesses brand, image, reputation considerations? Performance - What will be the best
method for your organisation to maintain and exercise your contingency arrangements? Develop a Response/Plan
Create a working document that details your strategy in such a manner that it will
be suitable Guide / Reference material for the management team to use during the recovery.
Detailed response would be required for the following:
Your
Business Continuity Plan may become a lengthy document, if you provide unnecessary details.
Every manager in your organisation should receive a copy of the Business Continuity
Plan which they can keep in their briefcase or at home. For this reason it may become necessary
to produce a summary (one double page) of your BC Plan that can be folded and stored in wallets and
purses of the respective managers. This will ensure that the essential information about recovering
from a disruption is easily available to key staff.
Communications and Awareness
Communication is key to the success of any BC programme.
Ensure that you and all your staff are aware how they will be communicated with
and what is expected of them during a disruption.
Small organisations may want to adopt the Call Cascade method for notifying staff
whereas larger organisations may want to make use of SMS/text messaging as a means of notification.
External communications are paramount to maintaining your brand and good reputation.
Prepare a communications plan in advance which provides a template and detailed processes to communicate
with suppliers, customers, financial institutions, press etc.
Develop an Awareness of Business Continuity in your Business
By including BC into various areas of your business you can be assured that you
will be providing your staff with the required information when a disruption occurs
Exercise,
Maintain and Comply
When you have completed the plan you will need to exercise it in order to determine
that it is a practical strategy and that it meets the right recovery requirements.
Get a professional to walk through your plan with your organisation. They
will be able to highlight good practice and offer advice on areas where your plan may be lacking. Once
you know you have an effective plan prepare to conduct a table top scenario exercise with your identified
key recovery staff. The Leicestershire County Council will be able to assist you in preparing
and monitoring an exercise.
Business Continuity is now auditable and should be included in your companies internal
audit processes to as to be prepared for any external audit that may occur.
The Business Continuity Programme should be reviewed annually or when there has
been significant change or disruption to your business.
Leicestershire County Council and Business Continuity
The Leicestershire County Council gives free advice and consultation to organisations
that require assistance with their Business Continuity Arrangements.
Please contact the Business Continuity Manager at Leicestershire County Council
to discuss any queries or requests that you may have with regard to Business Continuity Management.
Email mholliday@leics.gov.uk and telephone 0116 305 6107.
Business Excellence and Regulatory Reform
Business Continuity Advice HM Government - Preparing For Emergencies
Business Continuity Advice Generic Challenges to Business Continuity Business Link
Prepare Your Business for Disaster Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure
Security Advice - Business Continuity Environment Agency
www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/flooding Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland Local Resilience Forum
Business Continuity Management |
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