Business Continuity Planning

Austega provides strong BCP implementation and testing services

The need...

It should be axiomatic that managers would consider steps they might need to take to preserve their business under a range of possible disruptive outcomes. Yet for many the need for business continuity planning was only grudgingly recognised with the publicity associated with Y2K. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon may have at last made this a critical priority for executive management.

Recognised or not, management is effectively making a judgment on the costs of business continuity planning versus the costs and likelihood of disruptive events occurring.

Business Continuity Planning...

Business continuity planning (BCP) need not be expensive, and its benefits even without a disruptive event can offset significant parts of the costs. These benefits include understanding and improving the business processes and better team dynamics.

Business continuity planning involves two major streams:

preparing, documenting and testing responsive action plans to use should critical processes be disrupted by some failure in a dependency; and
preventatively improving the critical processes to reduce their exposure to failure in a dependency.

The latter stream is often forgotten, and yet yields strong results. Indeed it generally is an automatic result of the first more visible stream, provided management is fully committed to it.

The critical challenge is to avoid BCP being seen as an adjunct work load dispensed from above, as something that needs to be filled out, returned, filed and forgotten. Managers and staff need to be engaged in planning for their survival. If this is achieved the process improvements and team benefits are often considerable.

The BCP Process...

There is a process. It starts with the identification of the critical business processes (often called a "business impact analysis") and their critical dependencies - failure of which could cause the process failure.

The next stage is to consider the alternatives both at the pre-emptive and responsive levels. The latter recovery strategies then form the basis of the documented action plans, which in turn are the key part of the BCP document. This needs to be short, user-friendly and able to be easily updated - its goal is to help the business cope with a disaster, not an auditor with a checklist.

A critical element is to establish dependencies on other units within the organisation and on external parties, and to involve them in the BCP planning. This both puts these parties on notice and allows meshing of various BCP activities, and identifies any holes in the overall BCP that need to be addressed.

Testing is critical, both to test for completeness and adequacy and to train those with BCP responsibilities. This would progress from structured walk-throughs to fully live testing involving other units when the staff are ready for it - the aim is to build competence, not to show up short-comings.

Independent Facilitation...

It is essential that the management in each business owns their own BCP. It cannot be done for them. Nonetheless many find that BCP is an open field without much guidance. A facilitator can provide the questions that need answering and suggest possible alternatives that are worth considering. A facilitator is also invaluable in the various testing stages.

Austega's Business Continuity Services

Austega can guide you through these various phases. Your confidence will increase as you see how you and your staff become accomplished at both handling crises as they occur and adept at reducing the risks in your business's normal critical processes. Contact us if you would like us to show you.

Last updated:16/5/07

Jump to... Top | Risk Management Home | Austega Home