First, what exactly is Business Continuity Plan?
It’s a plan designed to help your business move forward quickly and effectively in the event of a crisis or disaster. Unfortunately, disasters do happen, and the best way to be prepared for them is to plan for them to happen. While this might be a frightening thought, the only way to truly be ready is to have considered the possibility that something could go wrong. To help make sure your business is secure regardless of the situation, we’ve put together a checklist of the basic things you need to have a functioning plan to promote business continuity in the event of a disaster.
- Introduction – As with every policy, a business continuity plan has to have an introduction that explains why you need the policy at all, and what exactly it’s importance is to the functioning of your business.
- The Scope – Your policy should identify exactly how far the plan will reach. If it will be effective company-wide in the event of a disaster, say that. If it is directed towards just a few departments, this is where you should identify those specific departments.
- The Policy – This is where you state the policy itself. What actions should be taken in the event of a disaster? How can you keep your employees safe and secure, and manage to get business up and running in the least amount of time possible? The policy should be extremely clear, so that there is no confusion later on.
- Policy Executive – Who will lead and enforce your new business continuity plan? This person should be mentioned here in your plan, in addition to a description of their precise duties.
- Verification of Compliance – This part should explicate what is necessary to ensure that business continuity activities are in compliance with the policy. This section can also highlight what assessments or exercises should be conducted on a regular basis, so that each participating employee understands their role in the event of an emergency.
- Non-Compliance penalties – Here you should outline what the consequences are for those who do not comply with the business continuity policy e.g., note in personnel file, or verbal reprimand.
- Appendices (As Needed) – If additional information is necessary, a list of contacts, reference materials, etc., add them to appendices as the information comes up.
Red Five provides many business continuity and backup services for those situations you just can’t predict. If you’re unsure of how to design your business continuity plan, or have questions regarding your IT services, feel free to contact us online, or give us a call at 1-877-890-RED5.