In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, the unexpected can happen at any moment. Natural disasters, cyber attacks, pandemics – the potential disruptions to our businesses are endless. But as the famous wartime poster proclaimed, the key is to “Keep Calm and Carry On.” With a solid business continuity plan in place, your organization can weather any storm and emerge stronger than ever.
The Importance of Business Continuity Planning
I’ll never forget the day the backup server in my old office went up in smoke. It was like a scene straight out of a disaster movie. One minute we were humming along, the next our entire operation ground to a halt. Panic ensued as we scrambled to figure out how to recover our critical data and get the business back on track.
Luckily, we did have a business continuity plan in place (albeit a rather outdated one). After a few tense hours, we were able to restore from our offsite backups and get most of our systems up and running again. But the experience drove home just how vital it is to have a robust, well-tested plan for weathering disruptions, big or small.
Business continuity planning, at its core, is about ensuring your organization can “keep calm and carry on” no matter what comes your way [1]. It’s about identifying potential risks, putting mitigation strategies in place, and rehearsing your response so you’re ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.
As the experts at Open Access Government note, “Business continuity should be a mandatory requirement for any organisation” [2]. If you don’t have a plan in place, you’re leaving your company vulnerable to reputational damage, revenue loss, and potentially even permanent closure in the event of a disaster.
The Four P’s of Business Continuity
So what goes into a good business continuity plan? According to the experts, it’s all about the four P’s: people, processes, premises, and providers/partners [2].
People: This includes your staff, of course, but also your customers, suppliers, and other key stakeholders. Your plan needs to address how you’ll communicate with and support all these groups in a crisis.
Processes: This is the nuts and bolts of your operations – the technology, workflows, and procedures that keep your business running. Your plan needs to detail how you’ll maintain or restore these critical processes.
Premises: Where is your business located, and what happens if you can’t access your physical facilities? Your plan needs to account for alternative work sites, remote work options, and more.
Providers/Partners: You don’t operate in a vacuum. Your plan needs to consider the business continuity capabilities of your key vendors, suppliers, and other third-party partners. After all, their disruptions can quickly become your own.
By taking a holistic, “four P’s” approach, you can develop a comprehensive business continuity strategy that addresses all the potential points of failure in your organization. It’s not just about backing up your data (though that’s certainly important) – it’s about building organizational resilience at every level.
Building Your Business Continuity Plan
Of course, actually creating a business continuity plan isn’t as simple as just checking off the four P’s. There’s a whole process involved, and it starts at the top.
“Business continuity is the responsibility of the senior management team, not the IT department,” explains Jonathan Sharp of Britannic Technologies [2]. “It needs to be viewed as a business strategy and not a technology strategy.”
The first step is to get buy-in and commitment from your organization’s leadership. They need to understand the importance of business continuity and be willing to devote the necessary resources to making it happen.
Next, you’ll want to appoint someone to take ownership of the strategy – a business continuity manager or coordinator who can oversee the process and ensure it stays on track. This person should also work with an accredited solutions provider to help develop and implement the plan [2].
From there, it’s all about the nuts and bolts of risk assessment, business impact analysis, and plan development. You’ll need to identify all the potential threats to your organization, determine which processes and assets are most critical, and then outline the specific steps you’ll take to prepare for and respond to disruptions.
This is where that “four P’s” framework really comes into play. You’ll need to map out how you’ll maintain staffing and customer support, keep your key processes running, ensure access to your facilities, and coordinate with your external partners.
But the work doesn’t stop there. Once your plan is in place, you need to test it rigorously – running simulations, documenting lessons learned, and continuously updating and refining your approach. After all, the business world is constantly evolving, and your plan needs to evolve with it.
Weathering the Storm with Resilience
As I mentioned, my own experience with a backup server failure drove home the importance of business continuity planning. But the truth is, disasters come in all shapes and sizes – from natural calamities to cybersecurity breaches to simple human error.
Just look at the devastation wrought by hurricanes Harvey and Irma in 2017 [5]. The early damage estimates for businesses in Houston alone were in the tens of billions of dollars. For some companies, it was simply too much to overcome. But the ones that survived, that were able to “keep calm and carry on,” did so because they had a solid plan in place.
The same goes for the nuclear decommissioning industry, where safety and resilience are paramount. As James Crask, the convenor of the ISO working group on business continuity and organizational resilience, explains, “The most important thing is to avoid incidents in the first place, and above all to make sure that people and the environment are safe” [5].
But business continuity planning isn’t just about bouncing back from disasters. It’s also about future-proofing your organization, anticipating changes in your industry, and ensuring you have the flexibility and adaptability to thrive in the face of uncertainty [5].
Just look at the rise of electric vehicles and the impending ban on fossil fuel-powered cars in China [5]. Businesses that take a proactive, resilience-focused approach to their operations will be far better positioned to weather that kind of seismic shift than those that simply react to changes as they happen.
Keeping Calm and Carrying On
At the end of the day, business continuity planning is all about building organizational resilience. It’s about having the foresight, the processes, and the flexibility to weather any storm that comes your way – whether that’s a natural disaster, a cyberattack, or simply a major shift in your industry.
And it’s not just about surviving, either. As the experts at Software AG point out, the focus of good crisis management is “future strength” [1]. It’s about positioning your business to not just bounce back, but to thrive in the aftermath of a disruption.
So, yes, keep calm and carry on. But do it with a plan in place. Invest in your people, your processes, your premises, and your partners. Test your systems, document your decisions, and continuously refine your approach.
Because when the unexpected happens – and it will – you’ll be ready. You’ll be resilient. And you’ll emerge stronger than ever, ready to take on whatever the future holds.
References
[1] Software AG. (n.d.). “Keep Calm and Carry On with Business Continuity.” Retrieved from https://blog.softwareag.com/keep-calm-and-carry-on-business-continuity/
[2] Sharp, J. (2020). “Keep Calm and Carry On with a Business Continuity Strategy.” Open Access Government. Retrieved from https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/keep-calm-and-carry-on-with-a-business-continuity-strategy/47092/
[3] LABCoN. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://labcon.network/
[4] ISO. (2021). “New ISO Standard on Business Continuity Management.” Retrieved from https://www.iso.org/news/ref2240.html
[5] LaRock, T. (2017). “Survive Any Database Disaster.” Retrieved from https://thomaslarock.com/2016/07/survive-any-database-disaster/
[6] Shipp, S. (2023). LinkedIn Post. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stephenlshipp_bcms-airbus-activity-7074143652813402112-7KFY
[7] CIO Insight. (n.d.). “ERP & Business Continuity Plan.” Retrieved from https://www.cioinsight.com/it-strategy/erp-business-continuity-plan/
[8] UCF. (n.d.). “Business Continuity vs. Disaster Recovery.” Retrieved from https://www.ucf.edu/online/leadership-management/news/business-continuity-vs-disaster-recovery/
