Boston’s winter of 2014-15, when it received a ridiculous 9 feet of snow over three months, was considered the worst in the history of the city. Snowstorm after snowstorm took its toll—and not just on residents who grew to hate their shovels. Businesses suffered severe economic losses during that crazy winter. For each snow day, in which a business shut down or wasn’t patronized because of a storm, Boston companies collectively lost an estimated $265 million.
Events such as Boston’s winter from hell are often a driver for companies to examine their own business resiliency programs. Perhaps you or an external party ordered an audit of plans, and perhaps, the audit didn’t return good news. You are not alone—many companies think they are ready for whatever chaos may come their way, only to discover they are woefully unprepared. However, learning of any shortcomings now is better than realizing them when the blizzard hits and nobody is able to make it to the office. Here are four initial steps to take if an audit does reveal that your business resiliency is lacking:
1. Don’t panic
Again, discovering your resiliency plans are inadequate is not unusual. Companies are so focused on being profitable in the present that they might not devote as much time to the future. A good continuity program addresses the present and the future, thus allowing you to deal with a crisis as it occurs and restore normal operations after the crisis has passed.
2. Determine what plans you do have
More than likely, your company, if not individual departments, have some sort of disaster or continuity plans in place. A plan might be formalized and residing in a three-ring binder (and possibly collecting dust on a shelf), or it might be as simple as a Post-It note saying, “If computers go down, call Bob in IT.” The audit might have already identified what processes are in place and where the strengths and weaknesses lie. Take a look at the existing plans; determine what is sufficient, what needs to be shored up, and what needs to be overhauled; and develop a strategy that will get your resiliency plans to where they need to be.
3. Gather the troops
Business resiliency isn’t the responsibility of one person, or even one department; it requires contributions and planning from people and departments across the company. Consider a water main break that unexpectedly floods a server room. IT specialists will apply their disaster recovery plans to get the servers up and running, while facilities managers will determine what must be done to get the water out. Moreover, business units must have a means to still function if their computers are down for a few hours, as well as must apply continuity procedures to make up for any lost productivity during this time. These multiple plans, administered by three separate departments, are all necessary to deal with the unexpected swimming pool in your basement.
When an audit says your continuity measures need help, involving key stakeholders across departments is an important step to solving the problem. Merely identifying those stakeholders may seem like a no-brainer, but for some companies, employees may not know who to call in other departments when a crisis does occur. Form a team comprising a range of employees and roles from throughout the company. Working together, you can develop or improve a plan for resiliency so that if disaster does strike, you and your colleagues will be ready.
4. Seek help if necessary
Even after you have developed a basic strategy to address the shortcomings revealed from an audit, the task may seem gargantuan—particularly if you don’t have much experience in business continuity. For example, a business impact analysis, or BIA, can be awfully daunting and time-consuming for a novice. Or, perhaps your company is strong with disaster recovery but generally in the dark about how create a business continuity plan. In these cases, working with expert consultants can get your continuity plan to where it needs to be. Besides assisting you in developing and improving your program, the best agencies are teachers, helping you learn how to maintain and update your processes once in place.
What areas of your resiliency program need improvement?