The Cost of Business Continuity Planning Versus the Potential of Risk
Though the cost of mitigating risk can be high, the lack of proper business continuity planning and disaster recovery planning will leave a company is at risk of a catastrophic loss of revenue due to the loss of the Information Systems. Any company that relies on its Information Systems for their operations should invest the time and revenue in developing an efficient and effective Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP). This study will compare the differences in what a Business Continuity Plan is used for and what a Disaster Recovery Plan is used for. Additionally, it will evaluate the risk having a Business Continuity Plan and Disaster
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Business Continuity Planning also helps to identify a company’s exposure to internal and external threats in order to provide effective prevention and recovery for the company, thereby allowing it to maintain a competitive advantage and integrity. Krutz identified four major elements of a Business Continuity Plan, scope and plan initiation, business impact assessment, business continuity plan development, and plan approval and implementation (Krutz, 2003).
The first step to creating a business continuity plan is the scope and plan initiation phase. This phase is the beginning of the Business Continuity Planning process. This phase involves creating the scope for the plan and identifying any other elements needed to define the parameters of the plan. In this phase a detailed examination of the company’s operations and support services must be accomplished. Some of the activities identified in the Scope could include: listing the resources to be used, creating a detailed listing of the work that is required, and defining the management practices to be employed. This phase is usually conducted by a group that has been assigned by the senior leadership of a company. This group should be given the assignment of creating, implementing and testing the plan. The group should be made up of representatives from senior management, all functional
a business continuity plan starting with a risk analysis, business impact analysis, and alignment of critical
The goal is to minimize the impact of any disruption by containing it within a predictable and predetermined period of time. To do this, I recommend that this plan be developed and implemented with as many preventative controls, contingency resources, and procedures designed to allow the organization to quicky bounce back from any long-term business
This plan includes a short summary of the most important data obtained from the BIA, such as the business unit, responsible manager, process/business function, recovery time objective (RTO), and estimated daily financial losses. Have it approved by senior management. Why? Because it will almost certainly require funding, and your senior management needs to know at least the estimated cost before they can approve it.
If the company wants to solve its problems and become attractive for the potential investor, it should solve all its problems. The most important, company has to develop a business plan. In this plan, all the problems will be solved through stating company’s vision, mission, objectives, marketing, production and financial plan.
Explain the actions necessary to create corporate awareness and enhance the skills necessary to develop, maintain and carry out the Business Continuity Plan. Give examples.
Every organization should have a strategic plan to achieve its goals in a limited time period, the strategic plan has many variable models. The strategic planning process that we studied needs a collaboration between the organization’s staff, board members, and strategic plan committee. This strategic planning process has ten guide steps.
A BCP should cover all of the things that could cease regular business operation. Once that has been establish, then we will need to determine what is required for continue operation during a disaster. Then who are the key personnel and what their job will be in support of the continue operation. Identify the key equipment, storage data area and the secondary location at least 30-50 miles away from your primary position.
There are certain misconceptions out there about the need for business continuity planning. It is important to know the reality behind these myths.
When taking a look deep into an organization’s different departmental operation, it becomes clear how to plan to protect the most data and also which areas is more operation critical. While preventing interruption is the most important aspect of this plan, no one can predict the weather or any other attack. As part of the steps to implement the business continuity plan, Sunshine Machine Works will need to document a risk management plan, business impact analysis, incident response plan, plan activation, incident response team, communications, contact list and recovery plan section. Once all has been documented, the organization will need to test, evaluate and update schedule.
Phase 1 - Establish the foundation. These alignment and analysis steps are necessary to obtain executive sponsorship and the commitment of resources from all stakeholders. Without a basis of business impact analysis and risk assessment, the plan cannot succeed and may not even be developed.
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).
The purpose of the business continuity plan is to enable Motorsport Ltd to continue business operations to the widest possible extent and within the shortest possible time after the occurrence of an unforeseen circumstance that may have disrupted 'business as usual '. This business continuity plan will identify such circumstances and provide a framework to preserve Motorsports ' reputation; assets; staff; customer base; profitability and its capability to achieve its objectives.
Business Continuity is often referred to as the measure of lost time possible in a mission critical application.
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
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).