Agility and The Importance of Business Continuity Planning

I recently attended a webinar, hosted by our partner Agility, on the 5 Myths of Business Continuity Planning. Similarities to my recent article, Why you Need a Dedicated Emergency Management Solution, published in the November issue of the IAEM Bulletin stuck a cord with me. The webinar solidified my belief that BCP (business continuity planning) is a vital business function for organizations of all scope and size and should not be left to chance. The result of any extended business disruption will impact bottom line revenue, relationships with partners, long-term growth potential and much more.

If companies believe using a hodgepodge of email, chat, and document sharing is sufficient to deal with a business disruption their response will be inconsistent and lack structure. While it may be important to give employees autonomy during regular business operations when a business disruption occurs, be it a cyber attack, a natural disaster or other event possibilities new rules apply. You want to ensure your team members are empowered with a clear path to follow and you don’t leave your business’s survival to chance. Using professional business continuity software ensures the command-and-control structure is in place and you won’t be scrambling to communicate, and next steps are clearly established.

Agility also spoke about the importance having a business continuity plan and testing. Business continuity software, like Agility’s Recovery Planner, has testing built in and ensures you are prompted to test and review it on a regular basis. Simply put how do you know your plan will work if you don’t test it? Running different exercises ensures that you are having your team experience different scenarios, so you can improve and refine your plan and ensure your team is comfortable working with the unknown.

Let’s hope your business never faces a crippling disruption but the adage of hoping for the best but planning for the worst seems appropriate.

For more information or a demo of RecoveryPlanner or to participate in future webinars reach out to Cynthia Weeden at info@futureshield.com.