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BUSINESS CONTINUITY & DISASTER
RECOVERY
Business
continuity and contingency planning are of course essential
and unavoidable tasks. However, the creation of a sound business continuity and contingency plan is a complex undertaking, involving a number of stages and discrete activities.
Initially it is
necessary to understand the underlying risks and the potential
impacts of disaster.... these are the building blocks upon
which a sensible business continuity plan or disaster recovery
plan should be built. Then the plan itself must be created...
which of course is far from trivial. Then there are the
maintenance and testing phases, to ensure that the plan
remains current. Novaforge Business Continuity Planning
is designed to
consider all these stages and to develop an action plan to
keep your business running.
Whether you are
entirely new to business continuity and contingency planning,
or whether you have a published and established plan already
in place, hopefully we can offer significant value.
Business Impact
Analysis
The first step in a sensible business continuity
process is to consider the potential impacts of each type of
disaster or event. This is critical - how can you properly
plan for a disaster if you have little idea of the likely
impacts on your business/organization of the different
scenarios?
Contingency Planning Template / Software
Creating the
business continuity plan itself is far from a trivial
undertaking. Every aspect of the plan must be carefully
managed to ensure that it does not fall short when most
needed. Fortunately, there are tools and best practices
available to help.
Contingency Audit and Assurance
Having developed the
business continuity plan, it is sensible to perform an
audit... not just initially, but at regular intervals. This
helps ensure that it remains current, and that it stands up to
rigorous examination. Equally important are periodic checks on
'business as usual' contingency practices.
Risk Analysis
Having determined the impacts, it is now
equally important to consider the magnitude of the risks which
could result in these impacts. Again, this is a critical
activity - it will determine which scenarios are most likely
to occur and which should attract most attention during the
planning process.
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