Without due consideration being given to business continuity management ahead of time, even a minor disruption to key resources or systems has the potential to seriously impact on an organisation’s operations, reputation and/or financial performance.

The strategic approach is to give some attention to determining how an unplanned disruption might impact on your organisation’s operations, and planning what should be done, both in terms of preventative effort and developing processes for the appropriate response should the worst occur.

QRMC has assisted a range of organisations to undertake exactly those tasks, and the following considerations reflect our experience of the important components of the business continuity management process:

  1. Conduct a business impact analysis – this processes identifies the critical processes which your business undertakes and the resources required to undertake them, and which therefore need to be protected or replaced in the event of a disruption.
  2. Create a business continuity management framework and plan which is regularly updated, communicated, tested, and revised. A business continuity plan which is out of date, unknown to all staff, or uncertain to actually work, is no better than no plan at all.
  3. Ensure that business continuity planning is not undertaken in business silos without reference to the organisation as a whole (which could result in, for example, unnecessary duplication or failure to recognise key areas of weakness or strength stemming from incorrect assumptions).
  4. Consider the absence of critical personnel – if the business continuity plan will only work when particular individuals are present, some sort of breakdown of the process is almost certain. Also, some disruption events could have the effect of a widespread staff absence (e.g. natural disasters or pandemics) therefore this also needs to be taken into consideration.

QRMC has had extensive experience in assisting a diverse range of organisations with their business continuity requirements. QRMC can assist your business with any or all of the aspects of business continuity management mentioned above. For further information, please contact us to discuss your business continuity management needs.