01 Feb Why You Need a Business Continuity Plan
Crisis management is vital for a business to function smoothly. It is essential for all businesses, particularly small and midsize ones, to be well-prepared and equipped to manage the aftermath of a disaster. This is why you need a business continuity plan. This is crucial as these businesses often face greater challenges in maintaining stability in the wake of such events. Disaster recovery is an organization’s method of regaining access and reestablishing infrastructure after a natural or human disaster.
What to Arrange Before a Crisis
Being initiative-taking and having plans in place before a disaster occurs can significantly differentiate your business from others in the industry. Several factors that play a crucial role in ensuring a business’s continued success after a detrimental event include:
- Assessing the business’s risks. Conducting risk assessments is the first major step in preparing for unexpected events, as it enables your business to identify and evaluate potential events that could have negative effects on individuals in the workplace and the business’s continuity. The IQRM Test can assist you in determining your risks.
- Creating a disaster recovery team. This team consists of volunteer employees or department heads who are responsible for overseeing the proper execution of the continuity plan or disaster plan.
- Developing an Emergency Action Plan. An Emergency Action Plan is a written document that outlines specific procedures to follow in the event of an emergency. It serves as a guide for individuals within the organization, providing essential information such as primary contacts and an emergency escape route.
- Establishing recovery goals. These are any goals that the organization has determined to be important when managing the organization in the case of an unexpected scenario. Having specific goals set can aid in rebuilding.
- Staying up to date on counts of equipment. Keeping track of inventory on equipment allows your business to recognize the systems that are most useful when it comes to storing information and which systems you will need to recover first after a disaster.
- Identifying needed information systems. Information systems like hardware, software, data, people, and processes allow a business to determine how to access information through systems that can be implemented beforehand.
- Backing up data. In the case that you lose hardware that holds stored data, it is always safe to diversify locations where data is held and take advantage of cloud storage.
- Reviewing insurance policies and coverages. Understanding what your insurance policy covers in the case of an incident is incredibly helpful. If important aspects of your business are not insured, you can easily add policies to take care of those that need protection in an emergency.
- Ensuring employees are properly trained and evaluated. Providing comprehensive training to employees for unexpected situations brings a sense of reassurance in the event such situations arise. This level of preparedness not only instills confidence but also enables employees to respond effectively.
If you aren’t utilizing any of the key factors above, you may need to assess where your risks lie. This is why you need a business continuity plan. Our Intelligent Quotient Risk Management is a non-evasive, less than 5-minute, assessment that you can complete to see where your business continuity/ crisis management risks factor into your overall business risk. Upon completing the assessment, you will receive a free evaluation score.
Questions? Contact our team today to discuss custom options for your business.
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