Business Continuity is a necessary and important management process that helps keep an organisation going even in the most trying of times.
Business Continuity plans are put in place to ensure that you can keep your own business going, possibly pared down to critical services, in the event of an emergency.
Some examples of disruptive events and their potential impacts, are listed below (the list is not exhaustive):
- Power outage (loss of technology use: communications and data)
- Burst water pipes in buildings (denial of access, damage to property/documents/hardware etc)
- Fire (loss of life, denial of access, damage to property/documents/hardware etc)
- Severe weather (absence of staff, absence of support staff/services/critical supplier failures etc)
- Loss of key personnel (loss of knowledge/skills)
- Flu pandemic (loss of life, absence of staff, loss of knowledge/skills, fuel shortage, absence of support staff/services, critical supplier failures etc).
(Note: All disruptions have the potential impact of a reduction in, or inability to maintain, functions and service deliverables).
Further advice and information
Further advice and information is available from this site, using the link on the left of this page, and also from the Business Continuity Institute and the DirectGov Business Continuity Management toolkit (external links open in a new page).
We also have a template for producing a Business Continuity Plan for a small business.
