Feb 15, · A business continuity plan (BCP) is a document that outlines how a business will continue operating during an unplanned disruption in service. It’s more comprehensive than a disaster recovery plan and contains contingencies for business processes, assets, human resources, and business partners – every aspect of the business that might be Mar 05, · The Anatomy of a Business Continuity Plan. In order to protect itself from profit losses, reputation damage and customer loss, a company must create a business continuity plan. The plan should be thorough and include possible threats, readiness procedures to protect against these threats and information on who should be leading each process Use the business continuity plan template to prepare your own continuity plan. View a short webisode to learn about business continuity planning, focusing on the PPRR risk management model. Learn more about identifying business risk. Read about information technology risk management and protecting IT data and systems
Business Continuity Plan Template | Business Continuity Plan | Disaster Recovery
We rarely get advance notice that a disaster is ready to strike. Even with some lead time, though, multiple things can go wrong; every incident is unique and unfolds in unexpected ways. This is where a business continuity plan comes into play. To give your organization the best shot at success during a disaster, you need to put a current, tested plan in the hands of all personnel responsible for carrying out any part of that plan. The lack of a plan doesn't just mean your organization will take longer than necessary to recover from an event or incident.
You could go out of business for good. Business continuity BC refers to maintaining business functions business continuity plan customer service quickly resuming them in the event of a major disruption, whether caused by a fire, flood or malicious attack by cybercriminals. A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization business continuity plan customer service follow in the face of such disasters; it covers business processes, assets, human resources, business partners and more.
Many people think a disaster recovery DR plan is the same as a business continuity plan, but a DR plan focuses mainly on restoring an IT infrastructure and operations after a crisis. It's actually just one part of a complete business continuity plan, as a BC plan looks at the continuity of the entire organization.
Do you have a way to get HR, manufacturing and sales and support functionally up and running so the company can continue to make money right after a disaster?
For business continuity plan customer service, if the building that houses your customer service representatives is flattened by a tornado, do you know how those reps can handle customer calls? Will they work from home temporarily, or from an alternate location? The BC plan addresses these types of concerns. Note that a business impact analysis BIA is another part of a BC plan. A BIA identifies the impact of a sudden loss of business functions, usually quantified in a cost. Such analysis also helps you evaluate whether you should outsource non-core activities in your BC plan, which can come with its own risks.
The BIA essentially helps you look at your entire organization's processes and determine which are most important.
Whether you operate a small business or a large corporation, you strive to remain competitive. It's vital to retain current customers while increasing your customer base — and there's business continuity plan customer service better test of your capability to do so than right after an adverse event. Because restoring IT is critical for most companies, numerous disaster recovery solutions are available.
You can rely on IT to implement those solutions. But what about the rest of your business functions? Your company's future depends on your people and processes.
Being able to handle any incident effectively can have a positive effect on your company's reputation and market value, and it can increase customer confidence, business continuity plan customer service. These losses can be financial, legal, reputational and regulatory. The risk of having an organization's "license to operate" withdrawn by a regulator or having conditions applied retrospectively or prospectively can adversely affect market value and consumer confidence.
Build your recovery strategy around the allowable downtime for these processes. If your organization doesn't have a BC plan in place, start by assessing your business processes, determining which areas are vulnerable, and the potential losses if those processes go down for a day, a few days or a week.
This is essentially a BIA. One common business continuity planning tool is a checklist that includes supplies and equipment, the location of data backups and backup sites, where the plan is available and who should have it, and contact information for emergency responders, key personnel and backup site providers.
Remember that the disaster recovery plan is part of the business continuity plan, so developing a DR plan if you don't already have one should be part of your process.
And if you do already have a DR plan, don't assume that all requirements have been factored in,O'Donnell warns. You need to be sure that restoration time is defined and "make sure it aligns with business expectations. As you create your plan, business continuity plan customer service, consider interviewing key personnel business continuity plan customer service organizations who have gone through a disaster successfully.
People generally like to share "war stories" and the steps and techniques or clever ideas that saved the day. Their insights could prove incredibly valuable in helping you to craft a solid plan. Testing a plan is the only way to truly business continuity plan customer service it will work, says O'Donnell. However, a controlled testing strategy is much more comfortable and provides an opportunity to identify gaps and improve.
You have to rigorously test a plan to know if it's complete and will fulfill its intended purpose. In fact, O'Donnell suggests you try to break it. This is the only way to improve, business continuity plan customer service. Also, ensure the objectives are measurable and stretching.
Doing the minimum and 'getting away with it' just leads to a weak plan and no confidence in a real incident. Many organizations test a business continuity plan two to four times a year. The schedule depends on your type of organization, business continuity plan customer service, the amount of turnover of key personnel and the number of business processes and IT changes that have occurred since the last round of testing, business continuity plan customer service.
Common tests include table-top exercises, structured walk-throughs and simulations. Test teams are usually composed of the recovery coordinator and members from each functional unit.
A table-top exercise usually occurs in a conference room with the team poring over the plan, looking for gaps and ensuring that all business units are represented therein. In a structured walk-throughbusiness continuity plan customer service team member walks through his or her components of the plan in detail to identify weaknesses. Often, the team works through the test with a specific disaster in mind. Some organizations incorporate drills and disaster role-playing into the structured walk-through.
Any weaknesses should be corrected and an updated plan distributed to all pertinent staff. It's also a good idea to conduct a full emergency evacuation drill at least once a year.
This type of test lets you determine if you need to make special arrangements to evacuate staff members who have physical limitations. Lastly, disaster simulation testing can be quite involved and should be performed annually. For this test, business continuity plan customer service, create an environment that simulates an actual disaster, with all the equipment, supplies and personnel including business partners and vendors who would be needed.
The purpose of a simulation is to determine if you can carry out critical business functions during the event. During each phase of business continuity plan testing, include some new employees on the test team.
Much effort goes into creating and initially testing a BC plan. Once that job is complete, some organizations let the business continuity plan customer service sit while other, more critical tasks get attention. When this happens, plans go stale and are of no use when needed. Technology evolves, and people come and go, so the plan needs to be updated, too.
Bring key personnel together at least annually to review the plan and discuss any areas that must be modified. Prior to the review, solicit feedback from staff to incorporate into the plan. Ask all departments or business units to review the plan, including branch locations or other remote units.
If you've had the misfortune of facing a disaster and had to put the plan into action, be sure to incorporate lessons learned. Many organizations conduct a review in tandem with a table-top exercise or structured walk-through. One way to ensure your plan is not successful is to adopt a casual attitude toward its importance. Every business continuity plan must be supported from business continuity plan customer service top down.
That means senior management must be represented when creating and updating the plan; no one can delegate that responsibility to subordinates.
In addition, the plan is likely to remain fresh and viable if senior management makes it a priority by dedicating time for adequate review and testing. Management is also key to promoting user awareness, business continuity plan customer service. If employees don't know about the plan, how will they be able to react appropriately when every minute counts? Although plan distribution and training can be conducted by business unit managers or HR staff, have someone from the top kick off training and punctuate its significance.
It'll have a greater impact on all employees, giving the plan more credibility and urgency. cio UNITED STATES. Here are the latest Insider stories.
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Business continuity and disaster recovery planning: The basics. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning Definition and Solutions. SPONSORED BY Advertiser Name Here Sponsored item title goes here as designed. What is business continuity? Why business continuity planning matters Whether you operate a small business or a large corporation, you strive to remain competitive. Next read this: 7 tasks every IT leader should delegate How to assemble a highly effective analytics team 13 most difficult-to-fill IT jobs 10 key skills for a successful cloud strategy The 3 IT processes CIOs need most 7 hot digital transformation trends — and 3 going cold 7 toxic team behaviors IT leaders must root out 7 IT metrics that matter most 10 technologies that will disrupt business in How to cultivate IT talent remotely.
Related: IT Governance IT Leadership IT Skills Small and Medium Business Disaster Recovery Backup and Recovery IT Strategy, business continuity plan customer service. Download CIO's Roadmap Report: 5G in the Enterprise.
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Feb 15, · A business continuity plan (BCP) is a document that outlines how a business will continue operating during an unplanned disruption in service. It’s more comprehensive than a disaster recovery plan and contains contingencies for business processes, assets, human resources, and business partners – every aspect of the business that might be Is a plan for an infectious disease different than a regular business resumption plan? In some ways, yes. Traditionally, most business continuity plans focus on what will happen if the building, equipment, products or services are damaged in some way. The plans also tend to assume Jul 18, · A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of disaster, whether fire, flood or cyberattack. Here's how to
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