We can provide information and guidance on all aspects Business Continuity Planning. Our aim is to ensure that businesses and other organisations in Torbay have the opportunity and the tools to prepare and plan for recovery from any potential disruption.

Business Continuity Planning is just as important for small companies as it is for large corporations, if your business is to survive disruption. Building-in Business Continuity making it part of the way that you run your business, rather than having to 'firefight' any emergency, helps prepare you to offer 'Business as usual' in the quickest possible time.

"Business Continuity Management is a business owned and driven activity that can provide the strategic and operational framework to review the way your organisation provides its products and services and increase its resilience to disruption, interruption or loss" - Business Continuity Institute (BCI)

What is Business Continuity?

Business Continuity Management if practised effectively can assist a business to survive the disruptive challenges, which threaten our everyday life. By developing a management tool, which looks at the whole business organisation and identifies the critical processes, and plans, prepares and protects, a business can survive.

Fact

• 80% of businesses affected by a major incident close within a month.
• 90% of businesses that lose data from a disaster are forced to shut within 2 years.
• 58% of UK organisations were disrupted by September 11th. Of those disrupted 12% were seriously affected
• Nearly 1 in 5 businesses suffer a major disruption every year.

What is our role?

We can offer advice and support but cannot prepare your plans for you. You know your business and the critical processes. 

Is the service free?

We offer high level advice free of charge, and we can assist by giving details of useful websites and further reading. There may be a charge for more specific advice and/or assistance.

Why Business Continuity?

Without effective business continuity planning a natural or man-made disaster could result in any of the following;

• A complete failure of your business.
• Loss of income.
• Loss of reputation and or loss of customers.
• Financial, Legal and Regulatory penalties.
• Human resources issues.
• An impact on insurance premiums.

You may already have an effective plan, but are your staff aware of it? When did you last review it? Have you ever tested it? Time has moved on but have your plans?

The Business Continuity Process

• Understand your business and key business objectives
• Identify key activities and staff working within those areas
• Identify the potential threats
• Assess the risk both internal and external
• Calculate the impact
• Review the results
• Plan to reduce the likelihood or reduce the impact
• Train your staff
• Exercise the plan
• Audit the results and review regularly

Examples of Business Continuity risks:

• Have you considered financial/legal/regulatory penalties that could be imposed if you fail to provide a critical service which you are contracted to do?
• Consider how each of your critical services could continue during a prolonged power loss. Now think about a loss of power lasting for 24 hours.
• Which of your critical services would be jeopardised if your building was evacuated for a week with all access denied?
• What services would be impacted if access were denied for a month?
• How many staff would be needed to continue to cover critical tasks and how would you accommodate them?
• Have you an alternative building in which to work effectively? is this sufficient? Can staff work from home?
• Do you need access to any services not currently available at your temporary site?
• Do you use any special software or stationery such as forms? How long can you manage without and how long would it take to replenish stocks?

Your plan should answer all the above questions, and others.