Contingency plan (business continuity plan)

A flood. A crash in the telephone network. A bomb attack. Every company is bound sooner or later to suffer some significant disruption of their normal business activity. And yet, some company directors don’t lie awake worrying about it… those who have an adequate contingency plan in place.

Contingency plan or 'down the drain'?

Providing for the continuity of a company is too often limited to guaranteeing the financial continuity. Generating a healthy cash flow, reducing costs, investing wisely... But consider that the financial health of an organization is there by virtue of its activity. An interruption in the delivered services or a loss of data can cost a company a lot of money… and its reputation.

That’s why more than half of Europe’s major companies have a meaningful business continuity plan in place.

BCP vs. BIA (Business impact analysis)

Business Continuity Plan (BCP): document with all the information needed to safeguard and restore the business-critical functions in the event of a disaster.
Business Impact Analysis (BIA): analysis of all the business-critical functions and the effect that a specific disaster could have on them.

A contingency plan ... now!

A business continuity plan describes in careful detail how your organization will react in the event of an unexpected development as well as a full-blown disaster. With a series of precautions and procedures which guarantee that the organization will be able to maintain its essential activity, or restore it as quickly as possible.

External safekeeping of back-ups

A business continuity plan can be developed within an organisation, but it is not advisable since one is so easily blind to his own mistakes. External advisors have an objective view of the situation and of things that could go wrong. They take into consideration even the most unlikely situations. This to be sure to provide adequate measures for all other situations.

A disaster plan where vital files are housed in one’s own buildings? That is a ‘contradiction in terms’. Rely on Merak to provide on-target external safekeeping of archives and back-ups. The e-bunker can even withstand extreme fire conditions, a direct airplane crash or the electronic bomb, which would render your competitors totally disabled. > Off-site back-up storage

Business continuity plan

The business continuity plan addresses two fundamental questions:

Where is our company at risk?
What would be the impact?

It consists of an inventory and a plan of action:

The inventory of all of the absolutely necessary documents and information.
The plan of action to restore operation as quickly as possible. Extra attention is given to scheduling routine back-up procedures with external safeguarding.

¿Mañana, por favor?

There is the possibility that an organization will never have need of its business continuity plan. This is the reason that developing such a plan is often too easily postponed. It is, after all, a complex task, requiring attention and expense. More so, in that it also requires to be actually tested, regularly updated and the exercises regularly drilled. Without these, there is only an appearance of security. And that is even more dangerous than knowing that there is no plan! Get in touch with Merak.

> Contingency planning by off-site back-up storage