Disaster Management and Business Continuity– They are only as good as your last exercise and revisions
The world is a crazy place these days. From the United States to Australia and all the places in between, there are gas leaks, major oil spills, severe weather, train derailments, cyber breaches, and other disasters. When was the last time your company’s Business Continuity Management (BCM) program was updated? Does it have one? Have the threats to the business changed? If someone asked an employee the location of the closest muster station or who the incident commander is, would they be able to find that information quickly?
Incident Recovery
When an incident occurs, regardless of how isolated or expansive it might be, there is an impact to your business. In the best case scenario, your clients and vendors will never know that there was an incident. But if clients and vendors are affected, is there a plan for how to address an interruption in service? Because how quickly your company responds to your clients and vendors can have either a negative or positive impact on your business, an updated and practiced BCM program can save your company both money and reputation.
Business Continuity Management
The Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI) offers resources to inform and assist with creating and maintaining BCM programs (www.drii.org).
DRI outlines four major reasons why creating and maintaining a Business Continuity Management Program is a value-adding process:
- Legal and Regulatory Requirements
- Customer Demands
- Insurance Maximization
- Reputation and Business Resilience
Some industries are required to have Business Continuity Plans based to be in compliance with government regulations, including financial services, energy, and healthcare. To protect your business from legal ramifications associated with negligence, you need to have a documented plan in accordance with all applicable regulatory statutes.
New Requests for Proposals (RFPs) often require a link to a company’s BCM program. Companies want to work with vendors who are prepared to safely continue business through any crisis.
Business Continuity Management provides information that helps estimate the cost of specific incidents and informs insurance agents to help make customized insurance selections. There are specific types of insurance to cover disasters, and knowing your plan to recover losses helps you get the insurance coverage you need.
How your business responds to interruptions to your production or service affects your long-term relationship with clients and customers. Recovering from a disaster can have long-term affects on your business, and having a plan in place can mitigate some of the negative consequences to your reputation and earn you new business as you rebuild.
Establish or Update Your Program Now
No business or industry is exempt from threats, but how much and how long that threat affects your business can be determined by whether it has an old BCM program or an up-to-date program. Having a BCM program could make the difference between your business adapting to any situation or going bankrupt.
