One of the most important documents your organization can create is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP). This plan comprehensively reviews how your organization can preserve business continuity when responding to unplanned disasters that cause business disruption of critical operational processes, applications, and IT infrastructure. With persistent and increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats faced by small to medium-sized businesses, the complexity of securing remote workforces, and the ongoing threat of cyber warfare, there is no better time to evaluate your existing BCP. Preventing a disaster is impossible, but organizations can help lessen a disaster's damaging effects on business operations with proper planning.
Is it time to revise your BCP? Here is a look at some critical questions your organization can consider to help preserve business continuity in our new distributed workforce environment.
Is your organization prepared to combat the threat of cyberattacks in this new work from anywhere, on any device, at any time business environment?
A major facet of a BCP is designing proper backup solutions for data protection and systems recovery. Not long ago, large portions of corporate data lived on-premises, so this was a much simpler conversation. Now, with the increasing adoption of cloud solutions and the prevalence of ransomware hitting even the most high-profile organizations, nobody is safe from these disruptive and destructive cyberattacks.
What is the plan if your remote work locations are no longer a viable option?
Another primary objective when developing a BCP is to plan for alternate business location(s) in the event of a building disaster or pandemic scenario. Of course, we all lived through the recent pandemic that forced many companies to adopt a distributed workforce. This made way for employees to operate out of their homes more permanently, with varying levels of connectivity. The winter months in New England often bring power and internet outages that can be isolated to a few areas, but can potentially be widespread. Depending on the situation, will workers report to the office or take paid time off?
Do you have alternate communication mediums identified should your primary system go offline?
When disaster strikes, it is vital to have a communication strategy with employees, customers, and the media. Communication restoration should be a main recovery priority documented in your BCP. If the primary call system goes down, it is important to have a firm-wide communication plan to ensure employees know if and where to report. It is also critical to plan who, when, and how clients will be notified and the plan for media communications.
This line of questioning and the conversations that it invokes are the hidden, and potentially most significant advantages of walking through a BCP update process. Every business has unique challenges to consider and should perform an exploratory planning session around questions like these above. It is not always easy to uncover the hidden questions, and that is where we can help.
If you don't already have a business continuity plan or would like to modify your existing plan, Systems Engineering can facilitate your BCP discussion and further explore any secondary disaster recovery and contingency planning you may need. Select the link below for more information and start the conversation today.
Need more information? Connect with us at info@systemsengineering.com or call 888.624.6737. Current customers, please reach out to your Account Manager.
