When you are running a business, it is your duty to be mindful of the worst-case scenarios that can lead to business failures. Risks are part of every business and every business owner must have the best contingency plan to overcome business hurdles. Well, we can’t always anticipate everything, can we? So, what are the preparations one can make to ascertain the future of their company? That is where the business continuity plan comes in.
A business continuity plan (BCP) is the backup plan of every business. First of all, we should be knowing what could possibly go wrong with running a business. A business failure can occur because of a few reasons such as natural disasters or man-made disasters. A natural disaster may involve climate disasters such as floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, or storms. A man-made disaster is usually intentional such as cyberattacks and theft.
There could be various other threats in a business. It depends on the type of business you are dealing with. Depending on the nature of your business, you will have challenges and obstacles. You being the owner of the business, will have first-hand knowledge of basic threats that lurk around your business.
So what are the measures you will take secure your business? If you have nothing to back up your business, that means risking your business to the highest degree already. Some people usually insure their most priced assets of the business so they can claim insurance for things that are critical for operating the business after the crisis. Some people have a knack for safekeeping their money as a last resort.
There is also a common misconception among people that a disaster recovery plan and a business continuity plan are usually the same. Moreover, some people may even use these terms interchangeably, however, they are quite different.
A disaster recovery plan is quite specific and limited as compared to a business continuity plan. A disaster recovery plan mostly focuses on compensating your business with infrastructure-based disruptions.
For example, your business may have a base of operation in location 1 and due to an uncalled natural disaster (earthquake for instance) demolished the whole building. You have incurred physical damages that are unrecoverable.
A disaster recovery plan will comprise measures that will help you salvage whatever is left from the disaster and use it to operate the business functions. Also, claim a few insurance settlements that can help you to compensate for the physical damage.
A business continuity plan is far more elaborate, comprehensive, and advanced. Its objective would be to outsource the critical operations to another location immediately so that you can have enough time to manage your business to get back on its feet again.
Pre-emptive measures are the best measures that are taken from the moment when the threat is anticipated. BCP keeps a virtual setup ready to be deployed the moment a catastrophic moment takes place.
Conclusion: A typical business continuity plan encompasses many functions such as potential threat analysis, extrapolation of business, emergency contact information, multiple backup teams for handling crises, a recovery phase plan, an impeccable communications system for relaying critical messages during disasters, and a lot more.
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