New to business continuity management? If so, don’t sweat it; we’re here to help.

What follows are seven of the more frequently asked questions we get asked—and their answers—that companies have when just getting started with business continuity.

1. What is business continuity management?

If your data center flooded, would you still be able to serve your customers? What about if hackers unleashed a DDoS attack on your network? Would your workers be able to take care of their job responsibilities if they weren’t able to make it into the office because of a crippling snowstorm?

By essentially giving organizations a Plan B—and even a Plan C and a Plan D—business continuity management enables companies to answer yes to all of those questions.

Very simply, business continuity plans give companies the peace of mind that comes with knowing they’ll be able to continue critical operations no matter what circumstances they encounter.  

2. Why is business continuity important?

Recent research indicates customers overwhelmingly take their business elsewhere following a bad experience. If that wasn’t bad enough, nearly 80% of customers tell other people about their negative experiences.

When you stop to think about it, these two statistics aren’t really that surprising. An illustration: When someone tries a new restaurant for the first time and has a terrible experience, that person will likely tell their friends about it to save them from experiencing the same poor service. The person is also unlikely to give the restaurant a second shot, preferring to roll the dice on a different restaurant—or eat at one that’s already proven its worth.

Business continuity is important because it enables you to continue operations in any imaginable scenario. This, in turn, helps to ensure you don’t lose key partnerships, harm your brand’s reputation, or impact the bottom line.

3. What is the best way to create a business continuity plan?

Creating a business continuity plan requires decision makers to get a bird’s-eye view of their operations. This enables them to assess processes and procedures so they can identify which areas are most important to their company’s success. So ask yourself a question: Which parts of your operations, if knocked offline, would make it most difficult to continue operations?

Once you’ve done that, you need to identify the full scope of your plan. Are you only worried about one department or are you worried about all of them? Determine the key areas and critical functions you need to protect. Figure out how your departments work together, and how much downtime, if any, you can afford to stomach. After that’s all squared away, it’s time to hit the drawing board and start developing your plan.  

While business continuity plans can certainly be developed in-house, companies would be wise to consult with outside organizations that are experts in the space. At the very least, you may want a third party to review your plan after it’s drafted to identify any gaps.

4. What are the critical elements of a business continuity plan?

Strong business continuity plans focus on four central categories: technology, facilities, people, and suppliers. You need to ensure that you’re able to remain operational if your network goes down, your office becomes inaccessible, your workers get stuck at home, or your suppliers are unable to fulfill their end of a bargain.

You’ll also need to incorporate training into your business continuity plan. How can you expect your business to run smoothly during a crisis if your employees don’t know what’s expected of them?

5. How do you know if your business continuity plan is working?

Business continuity management requires more than simply putting a plan in place. You need to test the plan on a regular basis to make sure it works. As policies and procedures get updated, business priorities shift, and new technologies are deployed, business continuity plans need to be updated to reflect the changes. Outdated continuity plans won’t do you much good. Testing up to date plans enables you to measure the effectiveness of the plan against defined metrics to an extent; however, you’ll also want to conduct debriefs following actual disruptions to measure success and learn from any shortcomings.

6. Who is the best person to own business continuity management?

While there’s not necessarily a right or wrong answer to this question, whoever owns business continuity management should be someone who has the ear of senior management and the C-suite. The person should have insight into all facets of operations so he or she can ensure no stones are left unturned when drafting the plan. 

7. What is ISO?

The International Organization of Standardization (ISO) is a non-governmental entity that disseminates international standards that help businesses solve challenges so they can continue pursuing innovation. To date, the organization has published over 21,000 different standards, including a number that relate to business continuity, including:

  • ISO 22301:2012, which specifies requirements for business continuity management systems
  • ISO/IEC 27031:2011, a series of guidelines which help organizations ensure information and communication technology readiness
  • ISO 22313:2012, which helps organizations create, implement, and continually improve a business continuity management system
  • ISO/IEC TS 17021-6:2014, which outlines competence requirements for personnel auditing and certifying business continuity management systems
  • ISO/TS 22318:2015, guidelines that help organizations ensure their supply chains remain operational during disasters
  • ISO/TS 22317:2015, a framework for performing a successful business impact analysis
  • ISO 16732-1:2012, which helps organizations perform fire-related risk assessments
  • ISO/IEC 27036-3:2013, guidelines that help organizations ensure their information remains secure with respect to supplier relationships

These frameworks are designed to help guide companies through every phase of developing their business continuity plan, from conception to completion—and beyond. The standards can be applied to businesses of all sizes across all industries.

Have any more questions? Don’t hesitate to contact us.