Would You Land On Your Feet?

Would You Land On Your Feet?

By: John Ames for the Washington Bankers Association publication, “Issues and Answers”

Are you reliant on technology to get the job done? To what degree? There is a tremendous dependency on technology today. Tasks that were once done manually are now automated to the point that “doing it by hand” is no longer a possibility, and if it is possible, sheer volume becomes the obstacle. Loss of functionality happens quickly when loss of technology occurs. This modern day phenomenon leads many an organization to contemplate – business continuity planning.

As with the technology issue noted above, business continuity planning has changed over the years. It is no longer just preventing and avoiding mishaps that would create a disruption of your business operations. It is no longer just simply backing up your data and hoping you can recover it if the need arose. Business continuity is now defined as; preparing “in advance” to deal with an emergency situation that is large enough to require the restoration of your technology and ensuring the continuance of your critical business functions and processes. In other words – you experience the event and your planning efforts (if sufficient enough) allow you to land on your feet!

Business continuity planning and it’s associated “best practices” now require an organization to acknowledge the risks and understand the specific impact to the business. With this knowledge, an organization can address viable resumption/recovery alternatives for both their technology and work area needs and develop a specific planning document to address the continuation of business at the time of a major business disruption. Regular testing and exercising of the plan will ensure viability at-time-of-event.

There are many drivers in today’s world that businesses need to consider when contemplating or addressing the issue of business continuity and disaster preparedness. Some face regulatory scrutiny, while others are seeing demands by customers or clients for documented and tested plans, some businesses are concerned about litigation and guaranteed insurability. A few are being driven by “common business sense”.

Whatever the driver is for an organization, the bottom line is this — plan today, in order to be prepared tomorrow!

Every business needs a plan. Plan to stay in business, whatever your business is!