In all of life’s day to day scenarios, the majority of us have contingency plans for daily hiccups. If we burn dinner, we pick up the takeaway menu. If we can’t collect our children from school, we ask the grandparents to help out. If we run out of sugar for tea and coffee, we raid the baking cupboard and use brown sugar instead. Plan B’s are in our subconscious, and will be used weekly, if not on a daily basis.
So what happens in a business environment? Do companies have a plan B, do they need it, and what is Business Continuity? Have you ever thought what would happen if there was a natural disaster, act of terrorism or some sort of catastrophe? Disasters happen all the time, and occasionally we take it for granted that we live in a safe environment and country and that these events don’t happen near us. However, it does not necessarily have to have a direct physical effect on a company, to have an overall impact on the business.
If we look back on the Tsunami in 2011, the tragedy affected millions of lives and had a direct impact across the globe. The auto sector, amongst others such as computer manufacturers (Hard Drive shortages) were severely affected, and car brands were left with severely damaged reputations as well as financial loss and customer loss, with production suspended for many months. In this case, it was the suppliers that had been impacted, which effected manufacturers and retailers globally. It illustrated, that having all your eggs in one basket can be a dangerous tactic!
So, how can a company implement a plan B? Well, the Business Continuity Management (BCM) 22301:2012, is a standard that has been developed to ensure that there is always a backup, should any potential problems arise in the day to day running of an organisation. This may include disaster recovery, incident management, product recall and contingency planning. In lay man’s terms, its having a ‘Plan B’.
For more information about our Business Continuity standard, please do contact us and we will be delighted to discuss in detail how we can help your company.
9 June 2015