Business Continuity

“Business Continuity Management is a business owned and driven activity that can provide the strategic and operational framework to review the way your organisation provides its products and services and increase its resilience to disruption, interruption or loss.”
Business Continuity Institute

Argyll and Bute Council has a duty under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to ensure that business and voluntary organisations within their boundary have the opportunity and tools to prepare and plan for recovery from any potential disruption.

This guidance is provided as general information about planning for any disruption which will affect your organisation.

It is not intended to replace detailed guidance and planning specific to your organisation.

You should consider whether you need to obtain this.

To the extent permitted by law, Argyll and Bute Council excludes liability arising from the use of this guidance.

THE ROLE OF ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL

We can offer advice and support but cannot prepare your plans for you.

Only you know your business and the critical processes.

We offer high level advice free of charge and we can assist by giving details of useful websites and further reading.

What is Business Continuity Management?

Business Continuity Management if practised effectively can assist a business to survive the disruptive challenges which threaten our everyday lives.

It is a management tool which looks at the whole business organisation, identifies critical processes, then plans, prepares and protects the business so that it can survive or recover as quickly as possible with the minimum of disruption.

Business Continuity is just as important for small companies as it is for large corporations.

You need to make Business Continuity part of the way you run your business, rather than having to “firefight” any disruption.

A Business Continuity plan will help to prepare you to offer ‘business as usual’ in the quickest possible time following any disruption.

Advantages of implementing BCM

 

• Assists in the survival of a business.
• Ensures reduced recovery time.
• Protects assets and reputation.
• Reduces costs associated with disaster recovery.
• Optimises operational efficiency.

Why Business Continuity?

Without effective Business Continuity Planning, a natural or man-made disruption could result in any of the following:

• A complete failure of business.
• Loss of income.
• Loss of reputation and or loss of customers.
• Financial, legal and regulatory penalties.
• Human resources issues.
• An impact on insurance premiums.

Examples of Business Continuity Risks

• Have you considered financial, legal regulatory penalties that could be imposed if you fail to provide a critical service which you are contracted to do?
• Consider how each of your critical services could continue during a prolonged power loss. Now think about a loss of power lasting for 24 hours.
• Which of your critical services would be jeopardised if your building was evacuated for a week with all access denied?
• What services would be affected if access were denied for a whole month?
• How many staff would be needed to continue to cover critical tasks and how you accommodate them?
• Do you have sufficient back up for your data, both electronic and paper?
• Do you have an alternative building or premises in which to work effectively? Is this sufficient? Can staff work from home?
• Do you need access to any services not currently available at your temporary site?
• Do you use any special equipment, software or stationery? How long can you manage without that specific equipment and how long would it take to replenish stocks?

Your Plan should answer all the above questions and others specific to you.

The Business Continuity Process

• Understand your business and key business objectives.
• Identify key activities and staff working within those areas.
• Identify the potential threats.
• Assess the risk both internal and external.
• Who relies on you – who do you rely on?
• Calculate the impact.
• Review the results.
• Plan to reduce the likelihood or reduce the impact.
• Train your staff.
• Exercise the plan.
• Audit the results and review regularly.

Method

If you have no existing plans, start by listing your key services in order of importance. Prepare and document alternative arrangements so that priority key services can continue in all circumstances including prolonged power failure, lack of access to office buildings, loss of key staff through accident or illness etc.

Step 1-Understand your Business

• Identify all your critical services and prioritise them.
• Identify your suppliers.
• Prepare all known risks.
• Plot each identified risk on a graph of likelihood and impact using a 1-5 measurement.
• Decide how much risk you can prevent or reduce and how much the business can take.
• Plan for the remainder.

Step 2 – Prepare your plan

• Prepare a simple Business Continuity Plan of actions to enable you to continue each of your priority services, which also details specific actions for different types of risk and different services.

Step 3 – Test your plan

• Discuss your plan with all relevant staff, including the staff involved with key services. Cover all training needs.
• Simulate a theoretical event that would disrupt your normal business practice and test your plan, would it cope with this event

FACT

• 80% of Businesses affected by a major incident close within 18 months.
• An estimated 46% of businesses do not have a Business Continuity Plan.
• Of those with plans only 30% have actually been tested. One in five has only been tested once.

For further information contact :-

Iain Jackson
Governance and Risk Manager
Corporate Services
Argyll and Bute Council
Kilmory
Lochgilphead
PA31 8RT

Tel No: 01546 604188

Useful Links

The Business Continuity Institute

The Institute of Risk Management

The Scottish Executive

Continuity Forum