Business Continuity Doesn't have to be Overwhelming
Talk about business continuity, and most people sigh in the drudgery of analysis, acronyms, and “what ifs.” It doesn’t have to be this way, I promise. Continuity is much more intuitive than this. Business continuity comes down to just a few core principles, some of the same core principles you use in your everyday life.
In business jargon:
A mission-driven approach is helpful when working on large projects, and business continuity is as comprehensive a project as they come. A mission driven approach is guided more by the principle of the matter instead of the processes and helps to clarify dynamic problems, because keeping an eye on the big picture helps keep big projects objective focused.
Either way you say it, everyone knows that simple works best in an emergency.
So, if you’re tackling continuity planning, think of continuity as three core principles: Resilience, Contingency, and Recovery. Simple.
Resilience
Redundancies in critical infrastructure systems are vital to business continuity. Many options exist to supplement and solidify infrastructure to include emergency power generators, Off-site data management, secondary communications systems, and physical storage of critical information and processes, amongst others.
Recovery
Recovery planning considers the whole community in “returning to normal.” Recovery procedures include processes to assess and diagnose failures in infrastructure and communications, coordinating information between internal and external stakeholders, insurance claims processes, and coordinating with authorities. In a cyber-attack incident, this may mean ensuring the security of data or recovering systems. In an Inclement Weather situation, this may include coordination through insurance and disaster relief claims, and through rebuilding. In an incident involving violence, this may include culturally recovering from trauma, and managing the legal processes that result from the incident, whether litigation or prosecution.
Contingency
Finally, contingencies are prepared to bridge resilience and recovery efforts. Contingencies can include alternate locations for operations, secondary suppliers and logistics contracts, and hard copies of vital documents and information necessary to maintain vital functions.
In plain language, continuity is a normal process, it’s all around you, all the time. I’ll prove it to you:
Your car has sensors and warning lights if something is wrong, is out of place, or not safe: Resilience.
Your car has airbags, seatbelts, crumple zones, etc.: Contingency.
You keep your car insured against accidents and damage: Recovery.
Simplify your Business Continuity: Keep your eye on the big picture, and your focus on the objective: to maintain operations and/or return to normal as quickly as possible.
A few more notes about business continuity
Simplicity = Flexibility
Simple is best in an emergency. Simple saves time and money. But best of all, simple is flexible. Stay objective focused in building your continuity plans; find the common tasks shared by essential functions and/or generalize processes and procedures.
Challenge = Opportunity
It is worth noting that continuity can provide your business with opportunities to gain market share, relationships, and reputation. If your organization is the only business filling a need in a crisis or is the first business back online after a market crisis, the impacts can be positive for years to come.
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