Essay On Business Continuity Plan

Every business, from well-established organizations such as Microsoft to the small home based business that operates out of a basement is bound to experience operational setbacks from time to time. These setbacks can be both positive and negative interruptions of normal business flow. For example, an organization might experience a demand for a product at a rate not originally anticipated, generating more revenue than expected, but leaving the organization struggling to avoid back order. Organizations might find themselves victims of theft, or sabotage, and of course no organization is impervious to the consequences of operating in the natural world. Fires, floods, storms, power outages, and other variables beyond the control of the organization have the ability to bring an entire company to a halt.

Those who take the threat of organizational crises seriously know that they cannot talk their way out of things that they have directed themselves into. This proposition holds for organizations as well as the individuals who work for them. In the case of United Airlines, both the times the organization itself had directed towards crises, which could be averted if the compensation of the broken guitar was paid and if the last-minute change in staff travelling on plane would not have introduced.

The objective of this case is to understand the importance of crisis management. This case is intended to make the reader consider not only financial implications at the time of the event but the effects on the long term strategies of the organization. Also, the case urges participants to think about the consequences not only on the customer but on those within the organization as well.

This systemic approach will engage the whole organization in efforts to avert the elongation of this crisis and at its best make sure to implement proactive and reactive management for the short-run and long-run. Since the company wasn’t properly prepared in advance of this crisis, different

Profit is the money that a business earns in revenue, minus investments, and the cost of salaries.

Robert Trinh Program/Analyst Analyzes requirements and develops computer programs. Network Administrator John Lefever & Bill Mosterd

Prior to the terror attacks in 2001, the predominant thought processes for businesses in the private and local sectors was to continue generating money. By having this narrow-minded approach, these establishments were placing themselves in danger by not being prepared for a disaster, whether that would be man-made, weather or another type. According to Fisher (2004) in our attend section this week, after the 9/11/01 attacks, many businesses were left in dier need of assistance as they had not planned for such a catastrophe. There were several businesses that ended up going out of business. One in particular, lost its entire workforce in the attacks and had to start over, from nothing. Following the old adage that “hindsight is 20/20”,

Running a large company is a great responsibility, even at the most basic functioning level. You have to make sure operations are in order, your customers satisfied, your product flawless and your employee’s ae happy and valued. Thus, it is easily an overwhelming struggle to find time to manage the opinions of your audience and the general public. Yet, it is critical to the longevity and success of a company. Companies such as Under Armour, Southwest Airlines, television network TLC, and the NBA are just a handful of companies who have had major crisis within the communities they serve and have managed the situation extremely well. These companies responded swiftly and honestly and were able to maintain a strong loyal customer base even after some of the most unfortunate and unpredictable situations.

Overall, tragedy is a wake-up call for businesses to have a succession plan ready to go in case disaster strikes. Riggs International Banking Corp., for example, did not give family and friends the time to grieve their lost loved one. Nevertheless, businesses must move at warp speed to keep up with their competitors and the rapidly changing business environment. On the last note, successors must be aware of what role he or she is taking on because what the predecessor was involved in can be the undoing of the current leader and

Every business and organization can experience a serious incident which can prevent it from continuing normal operations. This can happen any day at any time. The potential causes are many and varied: flood, explosion, computer malfunction, accident, grievous act... the list is endless.

Disasters have become an inevitable part of businesses and organizations as well. They not only have a major effect on business and organizational continuity; they also result to an overhaul in organizational operational mechanisms (Awasthy, 2009). It is for this reason that many organizations and business resort to preparing business continuity plans and disaster recovery plans that will facilitate better disaster management in future. Effective disaster recovery plans are important to every business and organization (Thejendra, 2008).

Owning a business can have many stressors day to day. When starting a business there is a lot of planning and preparation involved. Many small businesses are owners who have put their own money into the business and look at it as an investment. Unfortunately with all the planning that goes into starting a business, one thing is often over looked. Most of the time the “what ifs”, are not part of the planning stage. One reason for this is that people do not like to think of the bad things that could or may happen. So with all the time and planning put into starting a business why not put some extra thought into a plan B if a disaster strikes? This plan B could be a business continuity plan or a disaster recovery plan. Business continuity plans are an essential part of the modern day business. There are so many potential disasters for small businesses that could seize the production or even close the business down for good. A recent study from Gartner Inc., found that “90% of companies that experience data loss go out of business within two years. It also found that 80% of company owners have not thought about how they would keep their businesses up and running if a data disaster occurs.” According to the Association of Records Managers and Administrators, “about 60 percent of businesses that experience a major disaster such as a fire close

DLIS has decided to develop a business continuity plan (BCP) with the full support of management.

Contingency planners are now asserting that contingency planning is a value-added component that can be a competitive advantage in the marketplace as well a means of helping organizations save money. Processes that are deeply analyzed in terms of continuity will usually be more secure, and new ways of working may emerge to help streamline operations. Contingency planning can be useful when forging alliances with external organizations or during acquisition phases. Contingency planning should be part of an organization’s quality cycle as well. “Business continuity and disaster recovery have gained somewhat in the eyes of top corporate management since the start of the 1990s. As the industry has slowly evolved from what could almost have been called a ‘black art’ to something starting to resemble a disciplined science, basic business principles have begun to become increasingly relevant” (Rothstein, 2003, p. 1).

In this paper, I will select an organization and prepare a strategic plan to grow the business over the next three years. This strategic plan will include certain criteria. That criteria includes: