What is Business Continuity Planning (BCP)?
The Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is the process involved in creating a system for preventing and recovering from potential threats to a business. The plan ensures that personnel and assets are protected and able to operate quickly in the event of a disaster.
The BCP involves defining all the risks that can affect business operations, making it an important part of the organization's risk management strategy. Risks can include natural disasters (fires, floods, or weather-related events) and cyberattacks. Once the risks have been identified, the plan should:
- Determine how these risks will affect operations
- Implement safeguards and procedures to mitigate risks
- test procedures to make sure they work
- Review overall process to ensure it is up to date
Why businesses need a BCP?
BCPs are an important part of any business. Threats and disruptions lead to lost revenue and higher costs, leading to lower profitability. And businesses can't rely on insurance alone because it doesn't cover all the costs and customers who turn to the competition. It is usually designed in advance and involves input from key stakeholders and staff.
What are the elements of a BCP ?
Many companies need to go through several steps to develop a solid BCP. They include:
- Business Impact Analysis: Here the business will identify functions and associated resources that are time sensitive.
- Recovery: In this part, the business should identify and implement steps to recover critical functions.
- Organization: A continuity team must be created. This team will develop a plan to manage the disruption.
- Training: The BCP team must be trained and tested. Team members should also complete exercises that review the plan and strategies.
In addition to testing the BCP team, the company must also test the BCP itself. It should be tested multiple times to ensure it can be applied to many different risk scenarios. This will help identify weaknesses in the business continuity plan which can then be corrected.
Drawing on its experience with manufacturers in Morocco, the ASP team supports you in the development and implementation of a robust BCP.
