COSE Update - September 2008 - (Page 24)

What’s the Plan? By Kristen Hampshire Preparedness costs less than recovery. Don’t get caught off-guard without a business continuity plan. Here’s how to do it. hat would you do if your business lost power for two days—or two weeks? Do you have a plan in place in case of flood, fire, data loss, a security breach? If you’re like many small businesses, the unfortunate answer is “no.” According to an Office Depot survey, 40 percent of small businesses admit they are not prepared for disaster. One-third indicate they have no current plans to get prepared. A Red Cross survey last year found that 93 percent of Americans aren’t prepared for a major calamity—a natural disaster, pandemic or terrorist attack. Consider for a moment what it would take to shut down your business completely? Simply losing e-mail could shake up an operation, and a telephone system shutdown would pose major challenges for a customer-service-focused company. Business continuity plans address the risks to your business and how to work through an interruption. “The difference between survival and closure can rest on your ability to recover from a disaster quickly,” says Kevin Goodman, managing director of business development, BlueBridge Networks and chairman of the Red Cross Greater Cleveland Chapter Business Emergency Planning Association. A business continuity plan (BCP) includes these components: written 24 • cose update • september 2008 W plans; physical security; mission critical systems redundancy; identification of key employees; succession rules; emergency communications; alternative secure locations; and regular tests and exercises. Goodman notes the holistic nature of a BCP. The more thorough the plan, the better. Here, COSE Update identifies the basic building blocks of your ideal BCP. Start here, then fine-tune the plan as you test and review emergency procedures. The planning process is continuous, but you must start somewhere—even if that means spending a few hours identifying key risk factors. Business Impact Analysis. Continuity planning is based on worst-case scenarios for your business. For each major business unit, estimate the financial, customer, operational and legal impact if you could access nothing in your business for 30 days. What would happen? What would it cost you? Get this on paper and identify what personnel is necessary to recover operations, and the estimated time of recovery for every business function. “You’re looking at two issues: recovering company operations and still running your company,” says Carol Mintz, director, Cleveland State University Center for Emergency Preparedness. “You want to prepare for the worst-case scenario so you are operational the next day,” Mintz adds. The worst case is different for every business. Losing data could destroy an accounting operation. How is the firm backing up data? Are paper files protected from potential fires and flooding, and are they stored off- or on-site? A manufacturing firm will want to be sure vendors have continuity plans too, especially with so many companies running just-in-time operations. “If you are a small manufacturer, you have to worry about whether your raw materials will get to you, and whether you will be able to get manufactured product out the door,” Mintz says. Even small service operations, like a beauty salon, will need customer data on-hand to cancel appointments and a way to access schedules and notify employees in case of an emergency store closing. “Take a step back to quantify costs and measure the true impact a disaster could have on your business,” advises Shawn Sturgeon, sales engineer, Time Warner Cable Business Class, Akron. What are you willing to risk? What business operations are critical to your livelihood? What would it take to drive you out of business? This impact analysis is the first step to creating a custom business continuity plan for your business. “You are not going to be the red cross Helps you Plan The Red Cross Guide to Business Continuity Planning cD-rom will guide you through basic, effective continuity planning. you can download forms and create a custom workbook for staff members to keep onsite. the cD will help you define goals, conduct a business impact analysis, create a plan and test it. the resource costs $39.95, but cose members can receive it for just $25.95.  (216) 431-3062

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of COSE Update - September 2008

COSE Update - September 2008 Contents Memo Upfront Vision Tech Business Interrupted The “Bigness” of Small Business What’s the Plan? People Telecom Advocacy Communications Health Pipeline Connect Arts My Cause Plugged In

COSE Update - September 2008

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