Building Business Continuity: Your Plan for Success
Building Business Continuity: Your Plan for Success
Storms and other emergencies, both weather- and non-weather related, can result in outages, damage to your facility, or business downtime. However, with a little bit of planning ahead of time, you can keep your business running as smoothly as possible during the unexpected. The steps below will guide you through the process of building out a comprehensive continuity plan.
When it comes to keeping your business operating smoothly, ask yourself: If my facility was impacted by a power outage or major storm event, what would I need to do to get operations back on track quickly and safely?
If your first reaction to that question wasn’t to mentally review your up-to-date continuity plan, don’t worry – we’re here to help change that.
It’s vital for your business – and your bottom line – to have a routinely-updated continuity plan in place to ensure any unexpected outages, supply chain interruptions, or gifts from Mother Nature don’t bring your operations to a grinding halt.
The below checklist has been developed by our team with your business in mind; use this guide to help craft your continuity plan and provide you with the peace of mind you need to stay focused on running your business.
- Build Your Team
- Designate a planning team with an assigned leader to guide the continuity planning process. This step should also include clear assignments of responsibilities.
- Note that the team leader could be the business owner, facility manager, head of operations, or general manager.
- Rate Your Risks
- List all the potential hazards your business might face during an emergency.
- Have your team assess each hazard on its probability of occurrence and potential impact on your business. It may be helpful to assign a point system or color-coded system for each hazard to allow for ease of communication during an event.
- Develop action items and mitigation procedures for each potential hazard. Be sure that your organization receives clear communication regarding these actions and procedures, and that you are performing practice drills at least annually.
- Identify Critical Processes
- Identify which specific processes are essential to keeping your business operational. Remember to keep this list just to the essentials; the bare minimum needed to keep your lights on, and your doors open.
- Task your planning team with creating an action checklist to maintain critical functions during an emergency.
- Build out an easily accessible list of where your employees can obtain the necessary resources to maintain critical functions. You will want this to be stored in both physical and digital formats.
- Take Stock of Your Suppliers
- Identify all vendors, outside contractors, and suppliers that provide your business or facility with critical resources.
- Develop and maintain an up-to-date list of contact information for all primary suppliers. Just as with your resource list above, you will want to have both physical and digital copies of this list stored securely.
- Develop and maintain a backup list of alternative suppliers in case your primary vendors and contractors are not available.
- Secure your Site
- Ensure that you have reliable backup power with regular testing and maintenance procedures.
- Review insurance policies to make sure you have adequate coverage for your facility and equipment, and update those policies as needed.
- Select and secure an alternative business location suitable to your essential business needs in case your primary site is inaccessible.
The most effective plans are laid before you ever need them. With this plan in place, you’ll be better prepared to maintain business operations and your bottom line. Want additional tips & resources to help prepare your business for an emergency? Visit our Business Storm Center for more.