Business Continuity Planning - Proactive And
Reactive
Author: Naz Daud

What is business continuity? It is about making plans to help
your business return to normal following an interruption, crisis
or even disaster. It is not just about dealing with disasters
when they occur but also about planning procedures and systems
to avoid any foreseeable crisis.

If you watch the news you will notice that disasters are
happening on a daily basis around the globe. The biggest
harbinger of trouble is Mother Nature with her volcanic
eruptions, earthquakes, tsunami, floods and droughts. Have I
missed anything?

Mother Nature is closely followed by man made disasters.
Wherever man is around you can be sure that some sort of crisis
is getting ready to erupt. Man specialises in eroding the
environment, starting a war, oppressing the weak, bombing
innocent civilians and creating environments where fire spreads
quickly!

In both man made and natural disasters the first thing to often
get affected is the internet and our ability to communicate
effectively. So therefore this is the first item on the agenda
in a decent business continuity plan. What proactive measures
can the business can to have as many channels of communication
open and how can it establish communication as soon as possible
once it has gone down?

Data is another important factor to consider. What proactive
plans does the business have to ensure that a backup of data is
kept at a separate location? How can this data be used
effectively if the infrastructure is damaged or in a worst case
scenario - destroyed?

Having clear plans in place to cope with injury and in worst
cases a loss of life can often help to reduce any potential
losses. Bear in mind that it is not only business that you have
to think about but also the family members of the victims of the
disaster.

How will your customers cope if you can not meet their
requirements in time? Do you have alternative suppliers
available to keep your customers ticking over until your
business is ready to supply them again?

Finally do not forget to consider your suppliers. They will
also suffer and some could even close down if you are their
largest customer.

By creating a business continuity plan the manager of a
business can get a deeper understanding of the critical parts of
the business. By having both proactive and reactive plans and
procedures in place, it makes it far easier to avoid some
foreseeable crisis and being able to deal quickly with a
disaster when it does occur.


About The Author: Naz Daud is the Founder of the CityLocal
Internet Business Franchise Opportunity.
http://www.citylocal.co.uk
http://www.citylocal.co.uk/frontend/franchiseinfo.php?cityid=79
http://www.citylocal.ie
http://www.ecademy.com/account.php?id=120141