Is your business prepared to survive a disaster?
Do you know how your business will continue operating if your warehouse is badly damaged in an arson attack? What if your supply chain is impacted by long delays due to political upheaval overseas? Maybe your restaurant is a victim of the frequent floods we’ve been experiencing on the East Coast.
We all assume that disasters don’t happen very often, but there are thousands of businesses in Australia that would disagree. So, is your business prepared to survive a disaster?
What’s a business continuity plan?
Basically, a Business Continuity Plan is a document that sets out how your company will continue to trade if your services are interrupted. It helps you manage the immediate crisis and recover quickly and efficiently from the disaster
Your goal is to mitigate damage and reinstate your operations as quickly and as safely as possible. A Business Continuity Plan will have three main components, a risk management plan, incident response plan and a recovery plan. Benefits of a business continuity plan
Without a business continuity plan, you could waste valuable time and effort trying to save your business instead of rebuilding it. This plan will immediately guide you and your employees, focusing on essential tasks, to get the business up and running as soon as possible.
If you want to get back to trading quickly after a disaster, you can’t do it without a plan!
3 crucial elements of a business continuity plan
- Risk management plan
- A risk assessment or business impact analysis identifies the hazards, threats or dangers that can jeopardise the operation of your business. Whilst owners possess specialist knowledge of their business operations, at this point it’s worthwhile leveraging the expertise of your insurance adviser, as they have the knowledge and skills to identify risks that may be either overlooked or considered trivial. Incidence response plan
- Once all the risks are identified, you can develop your incident response plan which should provide clear steps to handling the disaster as it occurs. This includes an incident response team and how to establish effective communications with employees and customers, as well as how to manage evacuations, and if necessary, a recovery plan
Essentially, your recovery plan outlines the steps needed to get your business up and running following an event. These steps depend on the type of incident that has occurred and may include moving your operations to a temporary facility, taking on short term leases of essential equipment or vehicles, even working with authorities and cyber experts to deal with a cybersecurity breach.
To make your business resilient to adverse conditions, whether that’s the loss of a major supplier, severe storm damage, theft, arson, or any number of other disasters, you need more than a Business Plan. You need a Business Continuity Plan that outlines the immediate management of a major incident, as well as your path to recovery. For assistance with your planning, including review of your Business Interruption or Consequential Loss Insurance cover, contact your authorised insurance professional today.
For assistance with your planning, including review of your Business Interruption or Consequential Loss Insurance cover, contact us today!
Contact our team at answers@oceanins.com.au