Why Every Business Needs a Continuity Plan (and How to Build One)

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a written plan for keeping your business running during and after a disruption, such as a typhoon, earthquake, power outage, or cyberattack. It lists your critical functions, who does what in an emergency, and how you will recover systems and data.

Below is why every business needs one and 6 steps to build it. 

Why continuity planning matters in the Philippines

Philippine businesses face more frequent disruptions than most: typhoons and flooding every year, earthquakes along active fault lines, and power interruptions. A continuity plan turns these from crises into situations your team already knows how to handle.

The US government’s Ready.gov business continuity guide is a useful free template to start from. 

Why Your Business Needs a Continuity Plan

A business continuity plan details a process that your company should take to neutralize and recover from different threats. It can also help protect your business’s assets and personnel during disasters, allowing them to function uninterruptedly. 

Business services like IT support and IT infrastructure will demand a lot of effort to deliver an excellent quality result. By that, the continuity plan should be developed ahead of time.

Business continuity plans are usually developed as part of a company’s overall risk management. This means you should consider creating this plan ahead of time, not in the middle of a crisis. 

The most significant benefit of creating a business continuity plan is that it provides a clear picture of how to proceed should those threats happen. It also tells you how those circumstances can impact your operations and how to implement procedures to mitigate them. Furthermore, it helps you check if the systems work and are up to date. 

Another tremendous advantage of having a continuity plan is its ability to ensure secure and continued access to your systems. It dictates how your team and IT service provider can reach critical platforms, the available bandwidth, and whether you need to boost their network capacity. 

The overall effect can be a reduced risk of losing your business and team members. It can safeguard against financial loss, lost productivity, and a damaged reputation. On top of that, it helps protect your employees from injuries or death in case of threats. 

But what specific threats can you address with a continuity plan? 

Here’s a quick list:

1. Pandemics 

Pandemics can affect your business plans in numerous ways. 

For example, they can force your employees to work from home, increasing demand for some business services, and reducing demand for others. Moreover, they can prevent you from distributing your offerings due to supply chain problems. 

A business continuity plan can help you overcome these bumpy periods. 

It formulates how your team will communicate throughout the period and perform business off-site. And it can also provide several options in terms of service distribution.

2. Natural Disasters

Natural disasters are extreme geographic phenomena, including tornados, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, and earthquakes. They’re tricky because they’re hard to predict and can leave disastrous consequences within seconds. 

Like global pandemics, they can disrupt the supply chain in affected areas, which is why you need a business continuity plan in any business services.

3. Utility Outages 

Water shutoffs and loss of communication lines or power can hinder your daily operations. It’s especially true if such outages are predicted to last long. 

Without a continuity plan, the risk of asset damage and productivity loss is drastically higher.

4. Cybersecurity 

Cyberattacks are computer-based attacks on your technical assets. The most common examples include data theft, ransomware, distributed denial of service, and SQL injections. 

In the best-case scenario, your infrastructure will function less efficiently until you resolve the issue. But in the worst-case scenario, you could lose access to all business data.

Business Services like IT Solutions must have a secure additional layer of protection for businesses’ data and information. CloudConsole provides professional IT services and consulting that follow global standards.

Create the Best Continuity Plan for Your Business

Developing a foolproof continuity plan requires a systematic approach. Here’s what your strategy should involve: 

1. Identifying Goals

Business continuity doesn’t just comprise your IT systems. It encompasses all essential business functions, like public relations, human resources, and operations. 

Since your company is unique, you’ll need to create a plan according to your specific goals. 

So, determine the most important processes and figure out how to back them up with recovery strategies.

2. Setting up an Emergency Preparedness Group

Choose several cross-functional managers and anyone else who can contribute to the plan, such as your IT service provider.

Determine the emergency response leader and make it clear they’re in charge of moving things forward when disaster strikes. 

3. Business Impact Analysis and Risk Assessment

Identify, research, and analyze your potential threats thoroughly. Discuss them with your team and see what would happen if you had to reduce, eliminate, or modify certain services.

 Make sure to document all issues along the way. 

4. Focusing on Customer Service

Your clients need empathy and transparency during crises. And the only way to meet their expectations in such trying times is to ensure your customer support team understands your continuity plan. 

If necessary, hire more people to answer client inquiries. 

5. Addressing Business Function

Your plan should incorporate critical business functions. These include business risk, impact on customers and employees, emergency policy creation, community partners or external organizations, and financial resources during disasters. 

This is vital to ensure business operations are functioning asap.

6. Staff Training and Plan Updates 

Present your continuity plan to stakeholders and promote a proactive approach through trial runs to verify the plan works. This way, you can pinpoint any weaknesses or missing aspects. Then, based on your findings and feedback, train your staff to make the implementation smoother.

Following this tactic doesn’t leave much room for error. 

Besides helping you maintain business operations and the supply chain, it also builds customer confidence. If your response to emergencies is effective, your customers will appreciate it. This allows you to preserve your brand, prevail over your competition, and mitigate financial loss. 

Keep your IT running: the disaster recovery part of your plan 

• Back up data automatically, keep at least one copy off-site or in the cloud, and test restoring it. 
• Use cloud email and file storage, such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, so staff can work from anywhere. 
• Protect servers and network equipment with UPS units, and consider a backup internet connection. 
• Have a cyber incident plan, since ransomware is now a common cause of downtime. See what to do after a data breach. 
• If you have to move offices after a disaster, plan the IT relocation ahead of time

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a business continuity plan? 

A written plan that explains how a business keeps running during and after a disruption, including who is responsible for what and how systems and data will be recovered. 

What is the difference between a business continuity plan and a disaster recovery plan? 

A business continuity plan covers the whole business: people, operations, customers, and suppliers. A disaster recovery plan is the IT part of it, focused on restoring systems and data. 

What should a business continuity plan include? 

Critical business functions, a risk assessment, an emergency response team, communication plans for staff and customers, IT backup and recovery steps, and a schedule for testing and updates. 

How often should a business continuity plan be tested? 

At least once a year, and after any major change in your business, systems, or office location. 

Want help building the IT side of your continuity plan? 

CloudConsole sets up backups, cloud systems, and 24/7 IT support so your business can keep working through outages and emergencies. Let’s build your plan. Get a free quote.