15 Secrets To Writing A Great Business Continuity Plan

15Secrets to Writing a Great Business Continuity Plan

Useful definitions

• What’s Business Continuity? Business Continuity or BC “describes the

processes and procedures an organization puts in place to ensure that essential functions can continue during and after a disaster”, either natural or man-made according to SearchStorage.com

• And a Disaster Recovery plan? A DR plan “consists of the precautions

taken so that the effects of a disaster will be minimized and the organization will be able to either maintain or quickly resume mission-critical functions” according to SearchStorage.com

What threats?

• Fire• Theft• Fraud• Flood • Terrorist attack • Pandemics• Earthquake• Cyber attack• …and many more

• A disaster can hit your business at any time.

• You need a good DR plan.

• But writing and maintaining a good DR plan is hard.

• And most firms never get round to it

• Don’t wait until disaster strikes - start preparing today.

• To help you design a comprehensive DR plan, hSo have prepared 15 DOs & DONTs.

1Don’t Cover Everything

Write an easy-to-follow guide, for use in an emergency

DO

Write an encyclopaedia

DON’T

2Prioritise

Recovery Actions

Focus on restoring critical business functions

Understand which tasks/files/servers… are more important than others

DO

Try to instantly return EVERYTHING to normal after a disaster

DON’T

3Consult Others

Consult all departments to ensure some needs are not overlooked

Consult your suppliers

Talk to your customers

DO

Assume you know everything about your business/suppliers/customers

DON’T

4Assemble information BEFORE it is needed

Prepare NOW for the worst

DO

Wait for a crisis to look for information. You won’t have time to waste

A disaster may make inaccessible the information you need, just when you need it

most

DON’T

5Educate Your Staff

About the Plan

Make sure your staff know about your BC plan

Rehearse annually to train your staff

DO

Assume your staff know what to do

Make your BC plan unavailable to your employees – have paper copies of your plan

ready throughout your facilities & stored off-site

DON’T

6Document Business-

Critical Processes

Document your business processes – they are essential to your business and customers

DO

Rely on just one or two people to know the processes – they might not be here when the

disaster strikes

DON’T

7Plan for the Worst-Case

Scenario

Prepare for the worst case scenario aka total loss of assets

… and you’ll cover many lesser scenarios

DO

Leave anything out to chance

DON’T

8Remember Your Main Site May Be Completely Lost

Back up your electronic data off-site

Store a copy of irreplaceable documents off-site

DO

Store your backup on the same site as your servers

Think your main site is out of danger

DON’T

9Don’t Be a

Perfectionist

Aim to keep your business working

Remember that recovery is timely but need not be instantaneous

DO

Aim to get everything back to the way it was before the disaster right away

DON’T

10Update Your Plan

Regularly

Keep in mind your business evolves and your DR plan needs to evolve with it (staff changes, new

customers, growth, new contracts, new IT apps…)

Update it at least every quarter

DO

Write your plan and just forget about it

DON’T

11Use Clear

Visuals

Include photos, floor-plans, organisational diagrams, numbered lists, bullet points…

For example, add photos of major assets to the Asset Inventory, along with a floor-plan showing

where the assets are located.

DO

Make it complicated for everyone to know what you’re talking about when reading your BC plan

DON’T

12Remember

Indirect Effects

Remember that many risks can harm your business indirectly

For example, fire could stop your main supplier from providing the services you rely on

DO

Forget to talk to your major suppliers about their own DR plans

Forget to put together a list of alternative suppliers that meet your needs if your main suppliers can’t

deliver

DON’T

13Consider

Differing Severities

Consider the when/where/what/to what extent a disaster can strike

DO

Think the response to any disaster should always be the same

DON’T

14Consider

Opportunity Cost

Consider all costs, not just direct cash costs: lost opportunities/lost productivity/lost revenue/lost

customers/legal costs/etc.

DO

Underestimate these costs. Better to be safe than sorry

DON’T

15Ensure Each Site Has Its Own

BC Plan

Prepare a DR plan for each of your sites

Coordinate strategically to ensure consistency of standards

DO

Forget that risks vary from one site to another

Thus each location’s assets and data also vary

DON’T

Do you need help with your Business Continuity plan?

Contact us today for a chat:

+44 (0) 20 7847 4510info@hso.co.ukwww.hso.co.uk