Posts Tagged ‘protect financial interests’
Why You Need a Business Continuity Plan
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007
If you work for a corporation or own your own business, this article informs you why you need a business continuity plan (BCP) to protect the financial interests of your company.
According to Ken Doughty, editor of "Business Continuity Planning: Protecting Your Organization’s Life":
"Studies of organizations in the United States that have experienced a disaster have shown that over 40 percent of the organizations struck by a serious disaster never resume operations."
This statistic gives you a staggering dose of reality. Your small or medium business needs a business continuity plan to survive. You may not have thought about the risks threatening your company, but the truth is that it could be severely damaged or completely decimated by a disaster. Consider possibilities like hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and tornadoes. Consider other disasters like the destruction of your firm’s IT systems. The loss of your infrastructure could put you out of business.
If the threat of losing your business is not enough, consider the fact that many businesses must develop a business continuity plan by federal law to preserve the interests of the stakeholders, including clients and shareholders.
Now that you understand the importance of the business continuity plan (BCP), it is another matter to explain it. A BCP is a comprehensive plan for what steps the company will take if operations are threatened, weakened, or decimated in some unexpected way. How will the company still provide services to its clients? How will the business stay afloat? Will it shut its doors and reopen?
The development of a BCP is complicated, but it includes returning the business to normal operations. Consider possibilities like repairing and reopening facilities, rebuilding infrastructures like technical systems, and financing the cost of recovery. If you have procedures in place for the major steps of recovery, you will be ten steps ahead of the game if a disaster befalls your company.
Remember, the BCP is crucial. Ken Doughty also reports that another 25% of businesses will eventually shut down forever within three years of reopening following a disastrous event.
Don’t let your business become another statistic. Get the help you need to prepare for worst-case scenarios. Protect your financial future and the future of your company.
Tags: business continuity plan, management, planning, preparation, protect financial interests, Rebecca Button, small business, strategy
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