Business Continuity
Planning (BCP)
“Statistics show that 80% of businesses suffering a disaster without
the benefit of a Business Continuity Plan go out of business within 12 months
of the disaster.”
Source: Department of Trade and Industry
How you respond to a disaster will determine how your customers, suppliers,
staff and creditors continue to remain confident in your business, thus
securing its continued existence.
The first few weeks after an event is critical and a BCP will enable the
recovery team to respond quickly and in an organised way.
Regularly when raising this topic we are told that everything needed to
get the business back on its feet is in the MD’s head. We are the
first to agree that nobody knows your business better than you but the amount
of work required when a disaster hits is vast and often underestimated.
Even more frequently we are told ‘my insurance company will deal with
that.’ It is not your insurer’s responsibility to get you back
on your feet.
Ask yourself these questions:-
• If the worst happened, how would we ensure that our clients’
orders
were met?
• What if key members of staff were injured or even worse killed in
the incident?
• What if the MD, who has all this knowledge of the company is not
available. Who is in charge?
• How will my competitors react? Are my clients at risk?
• What will my bank do? Will they foreclose rather than take the risk?
• Will I be able to continue to pay wages and salaries?
• How do I keep key employees?
And finally, do I know how to contact my insurers and broker outside business
hours if I need to?
It seems a daunting task but we are able to manage the writing of the BCP
and would be happy to arrange an initial appointment with our consultant
to discuss the merits in further detail. The fee for this service would
depend entirely on how much involvement you would require from us.
We would be happy to arrange for an initial meeting with our consultants
to assess your needs.