Planning, Part Deux (Two)

There’s a lot more to be said about continuity planning. By now, hopefully you’ve taken a look at your surroundings and made a list of business interruption events – along with some avoidance or recovery thoughts. Don’t worry that you don’t have all the answers – or that you haven’t thought of every possible issue that could arise. This list isn’t set in stone. It is very flexible and can have information added at any time.

This is important to remember about continuity planning. Never expect your plan to be permanent. As your business changes, as your environment changes, so will your plan. Expect to revisit your plan every time you make a major change, and at least once a year to catch the changes you might have missed.

So you have your list of business interruption events. You have maybe even come up with some thoughts about how to avoid the events or what to do to recover from them. Great! If you have blank spaces for event recovery or avoidance, now is the time to talk to someone in the know about those particular types of events and find out what can be done.

Not sure about where your employees will work if the building is unavailable? Do you have more than one location? Some operations could be temporarily moved to another location within the company. If not, check with vendors or customers and see about reciprocal agreements. A reciprocal agreement is sometimes used between two companies to allow sharing of facilities in case one or the other experiences a facilities loss. Although competitors sometimes offer space in times of great need, this is more often seen between vendors and customers, or two unlike businesses that have similar needs. There are also companies whose sole business is to provide work space. This comes at a cost, of course.

What if the event is a power outage? Do you shut down and go home? Or do you wait it out? Is it just your building or area-wide? Do your servers and workstations have battery back up? Remember, the batteries are only meant to keep computers running long enough to save current work and shut down safely. Also consider your phone system. IP phones and their powered switches will also be affected by a power outage.  How about a water main break? If the water company calls and says they have to shut off the water to your building, how long can you stay open? Is there an alternative to closing?

Has anyone noticed I haven’t mentioned backing up data yet?  That’s because data is just a small part of your plan. Your people and processes should be among your first thoughts in a recovery situation. Without people, your business cannot run (unless you’re a business of one). Next up - Data.