Curbing Panic and Instilling Solid Business Continuity Plans
November 6, 2020
Prepare your Business for Absolutely Anything
Traditional business continuity plans allow a corporation to respond to a crisis that ensures productivity and responds to the corporation’s needs either throughout the incident or during the recovery phase.
Essentially, it’s a survival plan for your business that offers a sense of calm during times of uncertainty. COVID-19 is a crisis that requires careful planning. While many companies are in the post-pandemic phase, solidifying your business continuity plan will help promote a healthy recovery and prepare you for future incidents that can challenge your company’s productivity.
The Fundamentals of a Great Business Continuity Plan
While the pandemic continues, a strong business continuity plan can push your company on the right path towards recovery. It won’t specifically address pandemic-related concerns but is a highly important part of a business’ ability to respond and remain resilient in the face of a disaster.
Typically, a BCP outlines key practices, financials, partnerships, and stakeholders, along with information that outlines how a business is planning for a crisis. The plan is broken into various phases surrounding a crisis or disaster that can potentially impact a business. The disaster itself that the BCP addresses could include anything from flooding, fire, natural disasters, or pandemics.
They generally begin with a prevention phase that outlines a company’s efforts to identify and manage existing risks. It addresses the types of disasters the company is most susceptible to and weighs the risks faced on a regular basis.
The next step includes a preparation phase that details the company’s efforts to plan for the worst and outlines potential impacts a disaster could place on a company.
Next is a response phase, explaining how a company prioritizes its processes, protects and manages staff, and keeps afloat throughout a crisis. This can vary from business to business but could include hiring on or laying off staff along with employing a specialized firm that offers response services. Then, there is the recovery phase, a simple plan of action that continually reduces any disruptions and outlines the timeline for a complete recovery.
Consider Forming a Crisis Committee
A BCP should be a collaborative project that includes key stakeholders within the company, along with specialized guidance from larger firms.
Creating a crisis response committee within your corporation is a great way to ensure that a BCP can be executed in the time of a disaster. Consider choosing a small selection of managers and senior employees within your company to begin drafting the plan, along with a single person that can make key decisions along the way and act as a leader.
The leader of the committee must have the authority to make sweeping organizational changes in an instant and act quickly to ensure the business is protected. Your BCP could also have a set of colour-coded levels to gauge a crisis’ seriousness, along with overarching goals for productivity. The BCP can also give leadership a quick glance at key business partnerships along with emergency contact information.
Practice Makes Perfect
Just in the same way schoolchildren practice fire drills, your company should also consider practicing specific crisis scenarios. Fires, floods, or even blizzards can have a huge impact on your business, and your entire workforce should be well-versed in these emergency drills.
Push to practice many different scenarios and ensure that your employees are well-educated on what would happen if a disaster were to strike. This preparation will protect your assets and ensure that your employees and financials are kept in proper order should the unthinkable occur.
Lean on the Experience of AFIMAC For Your Continuity Plan
Without a proper BCP, a disaster could cause mass chaos within your organization and result in complete organizational failure.
AFIMAC business continuity services give business owners the ability to manage and respond to any crisis. Our services include control access and employee screening, along with mobile lodging and medical facilities, to ensure your business remains running.
AFIMAC can help draft a comprehensive BCP and offer wide-ranging solutions designed to help your organization maintain its operations regardless of the challenges it is presented with.
Contact us directly to learn more about available solutions.
Updated January 17th, 2024: Business continuity remains highly complex due to persistent and never-ending labor shortages. Plan for such risks and lean on AFIMAC for all your human resource needs. Begin the planning process today, fill out the form below and contact us for more information.
