Harris KhanThe world of business has never been more threatening. Natural disasters, human errors, data breaches, and cyberattacks are just a few examples of risks awaiting companies today.
That’s why in the age where even a tiny mistake can have a disastrous outcome, business continuity planning has become a crucial part of risk management. It helps create the right disaster strategies, significantly decreasing the risk of potential disruptions.
An effective business continuity plan (BCP) should consist of:
- The list of potential threats and their impact
- Disaster recovery solutions
- Efficient communication channels
- BCP testing results
It doesn’t look like much, but it’s not the creation process that most businesses struggle with. What managers find challenging is making their BCP efficient.
And since failure is supposed to be the greatest teacher, here’s a list of 5 common mistakes companies make when dealing with their business continuity.
Using Unreliable Business Continuity Software
To help in continuity management, many companies decide on using special software. To be fair, a reliable and efficient business continuity program can be a great asset to your disaster planning process.
Of course, to make sure it helps your organization, you need to pick the right provider. Unfortunately, many companies choose the cheapest options on the market, only to realize that their business continuity plan doesn’t work as it should when an incident occurs.
And the same goes for other technological solutions, like data recovery software or antiviruses.
Prioritizing Wrong Threats
As mentioned above, the list of potential threats is one of the main components of every BCP. And while companies don’t struggle with writing them all down, they often prioritize the wrong risks.
When creating such a list, you should always precede it with a thorough risk analysis of your branch, current economy, and location. Doing that will help you identify threats that may hurt your business most severely.
Once you get your list of risks right, you’ll be able to plan more effective emergency solutions. In fact, if you don’t provide a proper defense for your data, not even an efficient disaster plan will help you.
Failing to Communicate With Employees
Sharing your plan to employees is one thing. The other is ensuring they all understand what they should do in the event of an emergency.
With that in mind, making your BCP clear and easy to follow is critical. The same goes for creating communication channels.
Unfortunately, many businesses fail to understand the importance of keeping their whole team up to date. If you want your plan to work, your entire organization has to work like a Swiss watch. But to achieve that, everyone has to know what to do.
If you fail to let information flow across all departments, you risk significant disruptions. And if you aren’t able to get your organization up and running after an incident, you can as well close up shop.
Not Running Tests
Deciding not to test a business continuity plan is probably the most common mistake in risk management. Most managers are so delighted with their work that they don’t even consider something might be wrong with their plan.
Unfortunately, plans tend to be leaky, and business continuity ones are no exception. And you can be sure that discovering that your BCP has defects during the emergency is something you’d like to avoid.
No, to ensure your plan is efficient, you have to test it. Only doing that will help you determine whether your business continuity strategy does or doesn’t need improvements. What’s more, testing your plan beforehand will allow your employees to learn how it works in practice.
Forgetting to Update
But you shouldn’t test your plan just for the sake of it. The main reason for checking how it works is to see whether it needs improvements or updates. And when it comes to business continuity management, there’s always room for improvement.
Keep in mind that the world of threats is evolving. Each year there are more and more potential risks awaiting your organization, and keeping your business continuity strategies up to date is critical.
Also, don’t forget to train your employees and inform them about the updates immediately. Only doing that will ensure your company stays safe in events of danger and that there won’t be any significant operations disruptions.
Bottom Line
And there you have it, the most common recovery and business continuity management mistakes. And as you can see, creating an efficient continuity strategy is much more challenging than many managers think.
Don’t underestimate them, and don’t forget that an efficient business continuity plan provides necessary aid in the event of a disaster. Moreover, it may sway the odds in your favor, allowing your business to survive.
If you’re wondering how crucial BCPs are, you don’t have to look far for examples. All you need to do is take a look at the toll the pandemic had on small businesses.
And sure, the coronavirus outbreak was unexpected, but efficient continuity management should provide you with at least the aid you need to decrease the negative impact.
