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Risk

What does “continuity” mean to you?

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Well, the dictionary definition is: “the unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over time.”

In business it means the ability to continue, with your income stream unaffected, through serious problems that would normally disrupt or halt activities.

These problems can fall into a number of different categories, but critically any number of things can not be insured and those are the ones you need effective plans to deal with.

These might include, competition, problems with suppliers or customers, changes in public policy and the law, equipment delays, infrastructure problems and the like.

Even the insurable risks only provide financial compensation after the event, and do not deal with “what you do” when the proverbial hits the fan.

BCP (Business Continuity Planning) is something every business should do, and the daft thing is, in small businesses its even more important and often quite simple.

The main steps are:

  • Policy & Programme Management
  • Embedding BC
  • Analysis
  • Design
  • Implementation
  • Design

Over the next few days, I will go through the 6 steps above to give you a taste of what it means to undertake meaningful BCP, #becauseaccidentshappen to nice people all the time.

If you like to have a chat about how a modest spend can give you almost complete peace of mind and savings elsewhere can often pay for it, just message me here, it might be the most valuable call you ever make in your business.

Have a great day 😊

Mature Tree

When shall we plant the tree?

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What does resilience mean in your organisation?

The dictionary definition is:

“The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.” Or if you prefer, “The ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity.”

Both definitions above speak about the ability to recover after an event that has had a profound effect on an individual, an organisation, or a thing. In any case it’s clear that how you act after a major incident will determine your ability to continue your previous activity and #preserveprofitability for all stakeholders.

In an organisation that ability does not just happen at the point of impact!

In fact if you did leave the effort until after a major incident has occurred, the chances of recovery being quick or effective are greatly diminished and the result is often the failure of the organisation, if not immediately, by a thousand cuts over several months or years!

The ability to recover quickly is the result of detailed planning, familiarisation, and training, at all levels within the organisation, so that business continuity is understood and recognised by every individual, from the top management, right down to the hands-on operatives to be, business as usual.

Depending on the size of the organisation, achieving a full business continuity solution can take anything from 6 months to 3 years, covering everything in the business continuity cycle:

  1. Policy & Programme Management
  2. Embedding
  3. Impact Analysis
  4. Design of solutions
  5. Implementation
  6. Validation

Get this right and you end up with detailed operational plans, response structures and teams, properly resourced and funded, ready to spring into action the moment an incident occurs.

The incident might only last minutes or hours, but the tail could potentially last for days, weeks or months. Whatever the interruption a response is needed immediately, time is off the essence and delay can mean the difference between success or failure.

There is an old saying that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is today.

So, if you’d like to know more about operational resilience, why not give us a call so we can discuss the kind of solutions we can put in place, in your organisation.

Because the tree wont plant itself.

Mature Tree

tree in green field