5 tips from IDL’s experts on how to ensure business continuity
Any entrepreneur might have some fears when starting his own business. After all, there is always a risk of financial collapse, losing qualified personnel or the risk of becoming a victim of cyber villains, which is an especially topical problem today. We recommend you to follow simple but useful tips from IDL’s experts on ensuring business continuity so that in the future your company could function smoothly, without being influenced by external and internal factors.
1. Analyze your business in details
It is very important to understand your business and its needs. You need to concentrate on it rather than on the threats that have arisen. After all, the company should work no matter what. To do this, conduct a business impact analysis (BIA), which will predict the consequences of disruption of a business function and will process and gather information needed to develop recovery strategies. In such a way, you will know how, for example, failures or other potential problems can affect your business.
For starters, define the maximum tolerable period of disruption (MTPD). In other words, determine how long your company can function in critical conditions without financial losses. After that, determine how quickly the work of the organization could be restored after the incident (Recovery Time Objective, RTO). And only then use BIA, which will help you choose the best business continuity management solution.
2. Build a strategy
After conducting preliminary business analyses and determining the basic resources necessary to restore the organization’s functionality, start developing a clear business continuity strategy. Ideally, your strategy should contain solutions for logistics and transport, computer equipment, facilities, information assets, technology, and people. It should be done in order to protect the main activities of the organization, to restore them quickly and effectively in case of an incident, as well as to develop preventive protection methods.
3. Distribute leadership and managerial power
Experience shows that the work of a truly talented manager is no less important than financial investments or innovative technologies. The management team is not only fully responsible for the activities of the company but is also obliged to explain the strategy basics to all its employees. Line managers should be interested in the implementation of the plan no less than those who are “on top”. Therefore, if necessary, organize meetings, seminars so that each employee could clearly comprehend his role and importance in the company.
4. Periodically check and update the plan
The results of a study conducted by the mass media showed that only 13% of companies monitor their business continuity plans. For the record, they need to be checked at least once a year. Plan checking can take place in the form of discussions, tests, theoretical and practical exercises. Thus, your plan will always be up to date, and you will always know the changes concerning your staff, customers or key services.
5. Use innovative solutions
Innovative solutions are such solutions that provide the prospects for the development of your company, it is your growth driver. Therefore, do not spare funds for a reliable IT infrastructure to ensure information security, do not be afraid to use cloud technologies for productivity, try to keep pace with modernity and constantly upgrade your business. In such a way, you will attract more customers (and therefore more profits) and you will feel safe about the information security of your company.
