Business
Continuity Plan
A business continuity
plan is usually a separate document, associated with
larger organisations. It sets out a range of procedures
for dealing with issues, in the event of a major problem
or disaster situation, to minimalise interruption to
the business. Such events would include: fire, flooding,
electrical or gas faults, accidents with hazardous materials,
even terrorist activity etc.
The relevance of
this in the context of a business plan, whatever the
size of business, is that these issues should be considered
and outlined in the Risk Assessment and Health &
Safety sections. Any potential investor would want to
see that there were satisfactory preventative procedures
and contingency measures in place to reassure them that
their investment would be secure. Insurance on its own
is not generally sufficient, as some businesses do not
survive a major disaster – despite being well
insured.
The following covers
some of the common key business areas that might be
affected – but it will vary from business to business.
Areas to be considered could include:
• Premises
• Human resources management
• Production processes
• Quality control mechanisms
• Maintenance procedures and support services
• IT services & computer systems
• E-commerce processes
• E-mail communication
• Customer service handling
• Sales and sales administration
• Accounting systems & financial records
• Research and development activities
• Marketing and public relations
• Transport & logistics
|
