7 Key Principles of Business Continuity for Business

7 key principles of business continuity for business

7 Key Principles of Business Continuity for Business

Disaster recovery and business continuity planning should be considered a critical aspect of running a business. These 7 key principles of Business Continuity will help you get started in the right direction when crafting an effective business continuity plan.

1. Get employees involved

Business Continuity plans only work if everyone understands them. Employees are also a great source of ideas and insights about how your business might be affected by a disaster. So business must communicate Business Continuity plans to employees regularly – and actively solicit their input.

2. Keep customers in the loop

Customers are the lifeblood of every business. They should be treated as such even during a disaster. Alerts on the company website, email broadcasts, social media and text messages to key contacts’ mobile phones are all good ways for a business to express concern about the impact of a disaster on its customers. That level of service can even help transform a disaster into an opportunity for greater long-term customer loyalty.

3. Collaborate with suppliers

Businesses increasingly work in tightly interdependent networks of suppliers and partners. By working collaboratively with these third parties, businesses can make themselves even more resilient and well protected against disasters large and small.

4. Periodically test and update Business Continuity plans

It’s not enough to formulate a plan once and put it on paper. Assumptions about a plan should be validated with real-life testing. Plans also have to be updated continuously to ensure that they accommodate changes in the business’s products, services, relationships, size, geographic reach, etc.

5. Factor in compliance

Businesses are subject to a variety of regulatory mandates that may require certain disaster preparedness measures. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) may be particularly relevant in regards to workplace safety.

6. Examine insurance options carefully

Coverages vary greatly, and policy language can be confusing. Businesses have to exercise careful legal and financial diligence to ensure that their policies cover all aspects of disaster recovery and revenue loss, not just the repair of initial damage. In some cases, it may make sense to obtain contingent business interruption insurance. This type of policy provides additional coverage for the harm a disaster can do to a business indirectly, for example, if a supplier in a different climate fails to deliver promised goods because of a local blizzard.

7. Data backup is not enough

Many businesses think they’re safe just because they’ve backed up their critical files. The problem is that those files depend on applications and systems to be of any use to the business. That’s why, in the event of a disaster, it’s essential to be able to run applications on-demand from virtual machines backed up in the cloud.

Take a peek inside at the eBook

What you should look for in a Backup and Data Protection Solution?

Due to limited financial and IT resources, it is crucial for a business to know exactly what to look for in a backup and data protection solution. In this guide we’ll be outlining 6 key criteria for business to keep in mind when seeking out total data protection.

  • Comprehensiveness

  • Ease of use

  • Recoverability

  • Performance and reliability

  • Affordability

  • Scalability

We keep your business running, no matter what

Here at Urban Network, we don’t want to see your business get caught unprepared for a disaster. With our award-winning business continuity solutions, we can ensure that we provide your business with the tools to survive and recover from un-foreseen dramas.

Book a free on-site, no obligation attached Disaster Recovery demonstration and see how Urban Network’s Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Solution can keep your business running in a complete disaster situation.

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