Key steps to be prepared in the case of emergencies. A good plan can help to reduce the risks of prolongued outages and helps to reduce the damage.
A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is a tool to be prepared in the case of an emergency or disaster. Every organization should have a plan, which is as simple as possible, clear and – most importantly – tested and updated regularly.
Step 1: What makes a good Business Continuity Plan?
Note that there is a difference between BCM and Disaster recovery (such as when your region is hit by a storm, a fire or other negative events). A business continuity plan aims to limit the chances that a prolongued outage occurs. At the same time, should there be a problem such a plan provides you with ways to act, to shift resources, to inform your customers or to have alternative resources in place.
- Try to think of possible risks – from inside to outside to events that might start small but have big negative effects
- Make a list of those risks and try to have ways to reduce the severity of each
- Try to quantify the risks, sort them by importance
Step 2: Resources for Recovery
- People to involve in the case of an outage, external event, etc.
- Collect phone numbers, alternative ways to reach people such as secondary phone numbers, etc.
- List up information resources which would be needed – from codes to passwords
- Mix the team: This is not only for managers, the emergency group should have people from all levels which could help in the case of an event
- Have work-arounds and alternative systems in place – what if e-mail is simply not available, what could be alternative?
- Collect critical documents in a place that is reachable, place a copy in a secure place outside the office building
Step 3: Create a Business Continuity plan for your organization
- List up resources, locations, contacts in the case of an emergency
- Consider that such emergencies tend to happen when people are away or hard to reach
- Make a list of trusted outside people who could be reached – e.g. lawyers who can safe keep key documents
- Write the plan, distribute a number of copies
Step 4: Testing and implementation


