Business Continuity Planning – Protecting the Bottom Line or a Moral Duty?

In yesterday’s Alliance for Business Continuity & Disaster Preparedness (www.preparespokane.com) meeting, we spent some time discussing why more businesses don’t take business continuity planning more seriously, especially the small to medium sized business owners. Owners of small to medium sized businesses have always struggled with the issue of business continuity planning. “Why do I need a plan?” is often the question that they ask.

SMB owners usually have a hard time relating to the specific risks they face and even more so the impact to their business and bottom line. In the Disaster Recovery Journal, Fall 2008 issue, John Orlando, the director for the Norwich University Master of Science in Business Continuity Management offers up a different spin on the subject for justifying the development of a business continuity plan – Is Business Continuity a Moral Duty? I suggest you take the time to read it; I think you will find his opinion quite interesting.

Is it the moral duty of a business owner to develop a business continuity plan? As Orlando suggests, when you consider the potential obligation to customers, workers, and the community, it just might be. There are many drivers when you consider why an organization should consider business continuity, and moral duty just might be another. I’d be interested in your thoughts, let me know what you think.