Could your business make it through a crisis?
Potential incidents can cause a business significant problems, such as:
- severe weather
- staff absence
- failure of a key supplier
- fires
- floods
- malicious damage and many other
They can prevent businesses from carrying out their usual operations.
A business continuity plan can help prevent operational interruptions to your organisation. It can enable you to quickly return to a state of 'business as usual'.
It also helps to make sure that:
- products and services are delivered
- brands and reputations are protected
- interests of stakeholders are protected
Once created, a business continuity plan must be tested and exercised.
How to write a plan
It is not hard to develop a continuity plan for your business. You can write one yourself just by applying the following advice:
- risk assessment - start by looking at the Thames Valley Community Risk register and consider any local risks associated with your geographic location
- impact analysis - conduct an impact analysis to highlight the key areas that you need to focus on
- minimise any impacts - consider risk mitigation using the 4 Ts
- Terminate - can you stop the business activity?
- Treat - can you reduce the risk?
- Transfer - can you insure against the risk, or outsource the aspect of the business?
- Tolerate - continue with the business activity and prepare a plan to minimise any impact to it
- train your staff - your plan is only as good as those staff that have been trained to use it
- test your plan - testing your plan is good practice
- check phone numbers within the plan regularly as these change often
- conduct at least one annual test on the highest risk areas of your business
Each member of the local resilience forum has a business continuity plan, and makes preparations based on Business Continuity Institute guidance.
Additional resources
The GOV.UK website provides a Business Continuity Management Toolkit with more details on how to develop and exercise a business continuity plan.
The Business Continuity Institute offers further training and qualifications in business continuity management.
The Berkshire Business Continuity Forum (BBCF) was founded in 2004 with the aim of raising awareness of business continuity and wider resilience issues to local organisations in Berkshire.
You can also contact the Joint Emergency Planning Unit, which covers Bracknell Forest, West Berkshire and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, who can provide help and advice if you're thinking of formulating a Business Continuity plan.