Business Continuity plan: too important not to have

A Business Continuity plan can perhaps best be compared to fire insurance. Necessary to have, but hopefully you will never have to use it. Despite the fact that newspapers are full of reports about stolen documents, hijacked systems and theft of data, the necessity of a business continuity plan is often underestimated.

A business continuity plan is not a top priority

Organizations are primarily focused on achieving objectives. Whatever form these objectives take. Investments in time and money in the field of IT, which are focused on achieving these objectives, are therefore always top priority. The importance of continuity within an IT environment therefore often does not receive the attention it deserves. All too often, the fact that achieving objectives can be seriously compromised when IT systems fail is ignored.

Drawing up your business continuity plan

Because having a business continuity plan should be as obvious as having fire insurance, we are happy to help you on your way. This starts with determining the steps you can take to arrive at a business continuity plan.

1. Identify risks: Identify the issues that pose a threat to your IT infrastructure. These risks are a key ingredient in the eventual business continuity plan.
2. Determine the impact: If a risk becomes reality. What are the consequences? Making an impact analysis reveals which systems or processes are the most vulnerable.
3. Create the business continuity plan: Define what needs to happen when an incident occurs. The defined risks and their impact are the most important input. In addition to actions to be carried out, resources are also named in the plan. Think of backup locations, who will be involved in the crisis team and any hardware that needs to be in stock.
4. Have a disaster recovery plan: The business continuity plan ensures that the organization can function again as quickly as possible. The disaster recovery plan is an extension of this. It is focused on the recovery of IT processes and is more technical in nature.
5. Create an incident response plan: Who should do what, in the event of an incident. This plan focuses on procedures and task allocation in the event of an incident. These should ensure that recovery time and recovery costs are kept to a minimum.

Keep it up to date

Having a business continuity plan is a good first step. To keep the plan as effective and up-to-date as possible, it is wise to test the plan and update it annually, for example.

Want to work on Business Continuity? Then read our next article on Business Continuity.

Working together on business continuity?

Our specialists are ready for you. We have extensive, broad experience in the field of business continuity. Do you want to work on business continuity and benefit from a considerable knowledge advantage? Then make a no-obligation appointment with one of our specialists. They will be happy to discuss the possibilities with you.