Business continuity planning (BCP) is a management process that helps manage the risks to the smooth running of an organization or the delivery of a service, thereby ensuring that it can continue to operate in the event of a disruption. The whole process is sometimes referred to as business continuity management (BCM). The Business Continuity Institute defines this process as follows: “Business Continuity Management (BCM) is an holistic management process that identifies potential business impacts that threaten an organization and provides a framework for building resilience with the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities.”

BS 25999-1:2006 is an auditable certification standard that defines the requirements of a robust Business Continuity Management System. It can be used by all organizations, in all industries and industry sectors giving confidence to all stakeholders that all foreseeable contingencies have been catered for.

Why Business Continuity?

Building-in business continuity and making it part of the way you run your business, helps prepare you to offer ‘business as usual’ in the quickest possible time, rather than having to ‘fire-fight’ any emergency. Without effective business continuity planning, a natural or man made disaster, such as:

fire, adverse publicity, loss of key personnel and or premises, floods and storms, computer failure, theft, bomb threat, technical or environmental failure, power failure, product contamination, failure of critical suppliers or major clients...

… could result in any one or more of the following:

a complete failure of your business, loss of income, loss of reputation, loss of customers, financial, legal and regulatory penalties, human resource issues, and/or an impact on insurance payments.

The resulting plan could involve:

· moving to another part of the office or building;

· moving to another location;

· staff giving up their work areas;

· transferring jobs, or

· staff working from home.

Therefore, it is just as important that small organizations as well as large corporations ensure that critical services are maintained and employees understand what is expected of them in the event of a business continuity incident. Call EQM Ltd to find out how easy developing a Business Continuity System can be.