Business Continuity – A Good Plan
Business Continuity refers to how a business is going to continue running after a loss of data or mission-critical functions. If some sort of disaster partially or completely wipes out a business’ critical documentation for example, it may literally save the business to have a plan, or more specifically, a Business Continuity Plan (BCP). A BCP clearly examines potential adverse circumstances and develops the crucial next steps needed to keep the business running.
What Disasters to Consider
Unfortunately there are several types of disasters to consider when making up a BCP. Natural disasters come to mind first such as earthquakes, floods and tornadoes. Building fires are always a concern and even pandemic illnesses. Man-made disasters could include human error, crime, terrorism, sabotage, viruses and power outages. Although some of the possibilities seem far-fetched, consider the unexpected actions of the terrorists involved in the World Trade Centers bombings. Whatever the case, a good BCP will address the various ugly scenarios with a strategy for each.
It’s All Encompassing
What to include in a BCP obviously varies from business to business. The business executives should work together to make sure they are considering the recovery of all parts of the business. Normal operations is the goal after a disaster scenario which could include:
1. Customer service – history, data and communications
2. Supplier relationships and negotiations
3. Private customer information and documentation
4. Project management
5. Back up of data
6. Billing, invoicing
7. IT infrastructure
And the list goes on and on. The most important business functions should be determined, prioritized and communicated to all involved.
Technology Infrastructure
A sometimes huge part of a BCP relates to the entire technology infrastructure that needs to be maintained and backed up. This particular part of business continuity is referred to as Disaster Recovery. Consider your business applications, hardware and networking, just to start. These items may be changing or getting updated by the minute. Ideally this information is backed up to a disk, on-site as well as off-site, on a very regular basis. Other, more preventative measures, would include backup generators, surge protectors, fire alarms and anti virus software.
There are many businesses now that choose data centers for this purpose. A business might colocate their IT infrastructure to a data center in their area and then have another location across the U.S. where their data is backed up. With backed up business’ data in several places at one time, the information is secure should one of the locations get hit by a disaster.
Better Safe Than Sorry
Clearly, investing in a BCP is a wise choice whether you are managing a fairly new business or more mature business, no matter the size.
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About the Author:
Sabrina Parr is an online marketing manager who has written articles and blogs for numerous clients over the past 10 years including Latisys, who provides premium hosting, IT services and more in their Irvine Data Center location.
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