Any number of disasters can adversely affect an organization. There are natural disasters like floods or tornados; technology disasters, including computer crashes and power outages; and manmade disasters, including terrorist attacks and large-scale vandalism. No business is immune. The potential for catastrophe can’t be avoided, but it can be planned for.
A sustained business continuity program that purposefully and continuously implements comprehensive, modern business continuity management best practices will ensure that the most critical components of a business are protected or can be recovered quickly if (and when) disaster strikes.
Business Continuity Management Defined
Business continuity management, often called BCM for short, is the important but too often neglected process of planning for worst-case scenarios. BCM is accomplished through a painstaking method of cataloging possible threats to an organization, determining what their impact might be, and developing a robust, workable protection and recovery plan to deal with them.
Effective BCM entails developing plans and strategic actions that protect against the interruption of business activities or, in the event interruptions occur, provide alternate methods of operation. A lack of BCM can severely damage or even destroy an enterprise.
Smart managers use state-of-the-art business continuity management tools and implement vigorous business continuity management procedures. Like all critical risk mitigation functions, BCM should be periodically audited and continuously updated.
When done right, BCM can make sure a company will continue to provide the products and services its customers need, even in the face of significant adversity. This will maintain revenue and income as well as enhance a firm’s reputation for consistency and quality service.
Where Disruptions Can Come From
The most obvious threats to business continuity are as follows. Good BCM covers all of these.:
- Natural disasters, including hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, floods and snow events
- Cyber threats, including hacking, ransomware attacks, denial of service attacks and computer viruses
- Supply chain disruption, including railroad, shipping, trucking disruptions and major supplier shutdowns
- Technology failure, including computer and server crashes, massive data loss, and communications disruptions
- Vandalism and terrorism, including purposeful, malicious criminal attacks.
- Infrastructure failure, including water main breaks, electrical system failures, HVAC failures and building damage
- Human error, including data loss, equipment destruction and proprietary information leaks
- Widespread illness (pandemic, epidemic) or death, including a chain of command disruption, employee outages and healthcare stress
Why Audit BCM?
Quality audits of important business processes are critical to maintaining orientational credibility. This, of course, includes business continuity management integration. Corporate officers and company management need to know exactly where a business stands when it comes to BCM. Once disaster strikes, it’s too late for advanced planning. Without proper BCM and pre-planned recovery protocols, an unprepared business will be left scrambling and have an uncertain future.
Avoid Reputational Damage
A company that can (literally or figuratively) weather a storm will have the respect of clients and the public. Companies that neglect or ignore BCM best practices will experience negative feedback, bad press, and loss of confidence.
Avoid Liability
BCM isn’t just a good idea, it's a responsibility. If a foreseeable business disruption costs other people’s (especially a company’s customers) time and money, they may take legal action to recover their expenses. Also, a certain minimum amount of due diligence may be required by law and industry regulation. Neglect in the area of BCM can open a firm up to fines and possibly to criminal prosecution (depending on the industry and damages inflicted).
Strengthen Partnerships
When and if disruptions occur, BCM practices, or lack thereof, at one company can affect operations at any number of other companies. Businesses and individuals want to do business with organizations that they can count on. Having strong BCM procedures will strengthen relationships and make any business more attractive.
Keep Employees Safe
BCM is essentially crisis management planning. It includes vital instructions and communication avenues that can ensure the safety of employees by giving them the direction and information they need exactly when they need it most.
The Best Way to Implement and Audit BCM
One of the toughest things to accomplish in business is to develop and implement complicated BCM and BCM audit programs from scratch. There are hundreds of things to consider and thousands of pitfalls to avoid. The best way to do it is to utilize the high-quality business continuity management tools that are available.
Our content library contains over 200 tools and publications related to BCM. Two of our most popular and helpful tools are highlighted below.
The KnowledgeLeader Business Continuity Planning Guide
Our Business Continuity Planning Guide takes the form of a fully customizable PowerPoint® presentation that can be easily adapted for use in almost any organization. It’s designed to be presented to (or shared with) all interested parties to get the whole team on the same page.
This guide can be used in whole or in part as risk managers see fit. It is designed as a business continuity management template specifically for use in the planning and application stages of this complex procedure.
After a brief introduction, the guide lays out a road map that navigates the planning team through the entire BCM process. Four main subjects are covered:
- The objectives of business continuity management
- Various approaches to business continuity management
- The dimensions and scope of business continuity management
- Entry points (where and how to take action)
Each subject is covered in-depth in over two dozen information-rich slides that detail, diagram and explain each step along the way. The result is an appropriate and workable BCM plan.
The Business Continuity Planning Guide will be an invaluable tool for those who take advantage of all it has to offer.
The KnowledgeLeader Business Continuity Management Audit Work Program
This 33-page risk management tool consists of three complete, adaptable work programs that outline all the steps organizations need to take during a BCM audit.
It starts with the identification of key risk and accounting personnel and the building of the audit team. It then takes managers and staff through the planning stages, the fieldwork (testing), and finally, the internal (within a company) and external (public disclosure) issuance of an audit report.
This work program sample tells auditors exactly what questions to ask and what information to gather before, during and after the exam. It helps define the scope and objectives of the audit to keep the whole program on track throughout. It serves as a BCM checklist that reminds the team of hundreds of necessary tasks that might otherwise be forgotten.
Auditing is, of course, the key to ensuring the adequacy and maintenance of business continuity management procedures. Our BCM audit work programs are key to doing BCM audits right.