A business continuity plan should be a commonsense document that addresses the specific circumstances and needs of your business. It provides practical strategies to follow in a crisis, eg fire, flood, storm, explosion, adverse market or financial circumstances, computer viruses or power outages.
A good business continuity plan will give you a better understanding of how your business works, the risks it faces and the things that need to be done to ensure you recover from an incident.
What are the essentials of a business continuity plan?
A business continuity plan should be tailored to fit an individual business, but a typical plan will include:
- a list of essential business requirements
- identifying risks and assessing the impact they would have on your business, and
- a strategy to respond to, manage, and recover from an incident.
The plan needs to be regularly tested, reviewed and updated to make sure it remains relevant and useful.
Why is business continuity planning so important?
The current security environment makes business continuity planning important. In addition to natural disasters, fire, flood or malicious criminal activity, terrorism is also a threat.
Your business, the Australian economy and our critical infrastructure need to be protected. It is critical that we are prepared and have good business continuity plans in place.
Every business should know how they will manage an emergency situation.
Planning is best done before an event, not in the middle of it.
Time spent planning is never wasted. How quickly your company gets back to business after an emergency often depends on the planning you do now.
Where to find information on business continuity planning
Standards Australia, recognised by the Australian Government as Australia’s peak standards body, has developed the following standards on business continuity management practices:
- HB 221-2004 – Business Continuity Management Handbook
- HB 292-2006 – A practitioner’s guide to business continuity management
- HB 293-2006 – Executive guide to business continuity management
Standards Australia also runs a training program on business continuity management
Further information can be found at the following web sites:
Australia
Trusted Information Sharing Network for Critical Infrastructure Protection
Good Security – Good Business
Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources
Influenza Pandemic: Business Continuity Guide for Australian Businesses
Australian National Audit Office
Business Continuity Management – Keeping the Wheels in Motion
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
Prudential Standard APS 232: Business Continuity Management
Emergency Management Australia
Articles and Journals on Business Continuity Management
Australian Emergency Manuals
National Archives of Australia
Digital Recordkeeping Guidelines
New South Wales Department of Commerce
Business Continuity Planning
Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation
Terrorism Insurance Scheme
Canada
Disaster Recovery Institute Canada
Maintaining & Exercising Business Continuity Plans
New Zealand
Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management
Information for Businesses
United Kingdom
The Business Continuity Institute
Business Continuity Management: Good Practice Guidelines
Civil Contingencies Secretariat
Preparing for emergencies: What Businesses Can Do
Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure
Business Continuity Planning
United States of America
Department of Homeland Security
Ready Business: Plan to stay in Business