Business Continuity and Enhancing Resilience

Ashley Field, Resilience Lead for Surrey County Council, working in the Emergency Management and Resilience Team writes this month’s blog on Business Continuity.

You may not know, but this week is Business Continuity Week! It’s crucial for Surrey business owners and employees to understand the importance of business continuity and how to improve your resilience, but what does this mean in practice?

Business Continuity

I like the definition from the Business Continuity Institute, which defines business continuity as

“The capability of an organisation to continue the delivery of products and services within acceptable time frames at a predefined capacity during a disruption.”

Did you know that nearly one in five businesses suffer a major disruption each year? There have been some high-profile disruptions in the past few weeks, including the severe cyber-attack on M&S, which forced them to suspend online orders and halt recruitment. TfL also experienced a power outage that caused major disruptions across the London Underground network, affecting multiple lines and causing delays.

Business continuity planning ensures that your business can continue to operate during and after disruption. The goal is to minimise the impact on operations and enable quick recovery.

Assessing impacts and risk

The first step in business continuity planning is to identify your critical activities through a business impact analysis (BIA). The BIA estimates the impacts of disruption over time to establish the organisation’s response, recovery priorities, and the resource requirements.

The next step is to conduct a risk assessment and identify potential threats to your business. What would happen if you had an IT network failure, and your customers could not contact you or pay for your products/ services? What would happen if you had no access to your offices or premises or key documents or products were destroyed in a building fire?

Once you have identified these risks, it’s necessary to assess their potential impact on your operations. This will help you prioritise which areas need the most attention.

Developing a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

A comprehensive BCP is essential and should outline the steps your business will take to continue operations during a disruption. Key components include:

Roles and responsibilities
Key contact details
Outline how the plan will be activated – when, by whom, how?
Critical functions/activities to be recovered, timescales and recovery levels needed
Actions to be carried out
Clear communication process
Process for standing down and returning to business as usual

A top tip is to regularly review and update your BCP to reflect any changes in your business operations or the external environment. This will help ensure that your plan remains relevant and effective.

Training and Testing

Once your BCP is in place, it’s important to train your employees on their roles and responsibilities during disruption. Regular training sessions will help ensure that everyone knows what to do in an emergency. Additionally, testing your BCP through simulations and exercises will help identify any weaknesses and areas for improvement.

Conclusion

Creating a culture of resilience within your organisation is key to effective business continuity. Encourage employees to be proactive in identifying risks and reporting any issues. Building strong relationships with suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders can enhance your business resilience. Collaborate with your partners to develop joint continuity plans and ensure that everyone is prepared for potential disruption.

By taking proactive steps to enhance your business resilience, you can ensure that your business is better prepared to handle disruptions. During this Business Continuity Week, why not take the time to assess your current plans, identify areas for improvement, and implement strategies to strengthen your resilience.

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