Disaster can strike at any time. And if it does, could cripple your business . Unless you have a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) ready to go! A Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) commonly only focuses on the recovery of IT assets, where a BCP ensures that the business continues its operations in general.
Having a Business Continuity Plan for your business has several benefits. One of the most obvious is that your business can continue keep trading! Some goals of a BCP:

• Continue to see clients from another location– In the event that your office can’t be used because of disaster, you’ll know how to keep key functions running. Staff can continue working from remote locations, or have a place ready to be used as a temporary consulting room.
• Reduced Downtime– Without a BCP, you have to figure out what to do next the moment it happens. With a plan in place, you can immediately execute what needs to be done to get things back on track. Time means money in every business and that’s why it’s important not to waste any unnecessarily.

Since every business is unique, there’s no single BCP that works for all, but here’s some common points:

• People to manage a BCP– As with any project or program, there should be a team to manage the process. It’s certainly not a job for a single person.
• Analysis of business impact– You need to determine which products and services are the most important to operations. Ranking your services according to how critical their impact to your business is will help you determine which services to prioritise during the recovery.

After determining which products, services, and functions are most vital, you can start creating a plan of what to do. It should clearly detail the processes to follow, as well as the specific roles of individuals. 
Since the needs and processes of your business may change, it’s also important to review the plan once or twice a year to ensure that it’s still appropriate. Your BCP and DRP should tie in nicely to your Risk Management Plan (we all have one of those, don’t we?).
Remember, you never know when a disaster can strike! The sooner you get a plan of action, the better. Our IT Professionals can help develop a DRP plan that will work for your business, and help tie that into your Business Continuity Plan.