Whether a business faces operational disruptions or a natural disaster or an attack on its cyber infrastructure, business continuity planning is a must to tackle complex challenges. Business continuity planning ensures that the organisation is well-equipped to handle the disaster by establishing a set of actions and measures. These planned measures help organisations stay a step ahead of disruptions.
With the help of Business continuity planning, you hedge against unforeseen circumstances!
What is Business Continuity Planning?
Business continuity planning focuses on maintaining business operations during and after a disruptive event. It is broad and encompasses all aspects of business operations along with the potential threats. Risk management, which helps in identifying, assessing, and mitigating potential risks, is a foundational element of business continuity planning. Disaster recovery, which focuses on how to deal with the crisis after it occurs, also forms a crucial part of business continuity planning.
Components of Business Continuity Planning
Risk Assessment and Blast Impact Analysis
Risk assessment identifies the potential risks and threat actors that can have a significant impact on business operations. Blast impact analysis evaluates how these disruptions affect various business functions, revenue, and stakeholders. An outline of core business functions ensures that businesses sustain the disruptions and maintain operational continuity.
Recovery Strategies:
Business continuity planning formulates various recovery strategies for potential disruptions highlighting the steps to recovery, response, and communication plan, and designates the roles and responsibilities of the team members. The recovery strategy includes various measures such as diversification of vendors, inventory stockpiling, alternative work arrangements, or relocation to maintain critical business functions.
Communication Plan:
A well-defined communication plan ensures a timely flow of information with all the business stakeholders. In the event of a crisis, accurate, timely, and reliable information is a must to ensure a coordinated response.
Data Backup and Cybersecurity measures:
A clear strategy for securing and restoring critical data is a must to secure cyber infrastructure and critical business functions. It includes the creation of SOPs to recover critical data, data replication or mirroring to maintain critical data in redundant locations, and measures to maintain data confidentiality.
Testing and Simulations:
A good business continuity plan must be put to the test under various scenarios to make sure that it is effective. With thorough testing and feedback, the majority of bottlenecks can be addressed, and the process can be made more efficient.
Legal Compliance
In India, SEBI and RBI mandate that listed companies must have a business continuity plan to ensure business resilience. Globally, ISO 22301 provides the framework for organisations to establish, implement, maintain, and continuously improve business continuity plans. Increasingly investors, clients, and regulators expect a good business to have a business continuity plan in place.
Business continuity planning helps enhance organisational resilience, improves risk management processes, and ensures timely and systematic responses to crises. It increases trust among all stakeholders and increases the goodwill of the company in the long term.
Your Trusted Security Partner – MitKat
MitKat is a premier risk consultancy firm that equips businesses with expert risk consulting and security design solutions. Through our tailored strategies and expert insights, businesses can safeguard their assets, operations, and people. Our customised risk-analysis-based approach, in concurrence with global standards, expertise, and experience helps businesses monitor their threat landscape, identify risks, and pre-emptively deploy robust mitigation measures.
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