Understanding the Basics of a Business Continuity Plan

1. Call On: 0888 747 5593 Understanding the Basics of a Business Continuity Plan

2. Call On: 0888 747 5593 • On paper, a business continuity plan is something that you refer to during the period of displacement so as to keep your organization up and running. But in reality, there’s more to it. • For starters, it ensures that you are all set for remote journaling, a process that’s often carried out to reduce the recovery time and involves the online transmission of data to a backup system at periodic intervals. • It also allows you to benefit from cold and hot sites, disaster recovery services that come in handy when there’s a failure. Continued…

3. Call On: 0888 747 5593 • Having said that, gone are the days when it was the IT Department’s responsibility alone to implement any such plan. • Today, managers and the rest of the employees must also participate. And with equal participation from everyone, it may be possible to implement the plan in case of: • Fire • Power failure • Corruption of database • Human error • Social unrest

4. Call On: 0888 747 5593 • Make sure that the business continuity plan outline includes the occurrence of equipment and application failure and that there is room for resumption in case you come under what they call an “internet attack”. Also, the plan must tell you what to do when floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters play spoilsport. • However, for the plan to work, you must devise a good one in the first place. • Interestingly, doing so is easy if you have a template, one that doesn’t need you to get the hang of some complex business continuity planning software and is easy to use. A Word of Advice

5. 2 Examples of How Planning for Disaster Recovery Is Not the Same as Business Continuity Planning Call On: 0888 747 5593

6. Call On: 0888 747 5593 • Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity are often used interchangeably. • However the truth is that there’s a slight difference between the two. The former for one primarily focuses on the IT &T (Information Technology & Telecommunication) aspects of a business. • The latter, on the other hand, covers all or most of the critical processes. In other words, a plan for continuity is more likely to be comprehensive. Continued…

7. Call On: 0888 747 5593 Let’s consider these examples to develop a better understanding of how (and if) the two are different: Example 1: Say, an earthquake occurs. The process of resuming business after that earthquake can be seen as recovery. And if you had planned for it in advance, the resumption part that is, what you actually did was disaster recovery planning (DRP). That said, even when you plan for relatively small disruptive events, such as malfunctioning of software caused by a computer virus, you are working on DRP.

8. Call On: 0888 747 5593 Example 2: Suppose, your key staffers exit the company. Or for that matter, some of them are not well. Whatever the situation may be, you must continue operating, right? That’s where a business continuity plan (BCP) can come in handy because it’s aimed at making you overcome challenges that you may face from time to time. But of course, it’s not only a business that needs some planning. Those who offer emergency services (police, paramedics, and fire brigade) can also benefit from disaster recovery planning software because the kind of events they deal with often involve a substantial loss of life. These events, call them catastrophic, if you may, do not (or seldom) call for a BCP – therein lies the difference!

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