| | SEPTEMBER 20209CIOReviewA business continuity process is a strategic effort to confront the potential for a disaster or crisis and prepare an organization to take immediate action as necessarythen creates working streams at the micro level. Each facility and service should have the following business continuity plans in place to:· Identify alternate services for each customer based on location.· Plan for employee safety and additional resources should there be an impact on employees.· Emergency contact and recovery plans.· Conduct annual table-top exercises that test the readiness of the teams to show your best-in-class program.Employees, customers, investors, and partners all want to know that they are a part of a great organization and that organization is always prepared for the unknown. Business continuity plans are not only a necessary insurance for any business strategy but can also be a strong marketing and branding component that can have many positive returns.Most business continuity processes encompass six aspects of disaster and crisis preparation:1. Risk identification2. Risk quantification3. Risk mitigation4. Emergency response5. Crisis management6. Business recoveryBecause a disaster and or crisis can take many forms and affect businesses at any time, it's impossible to cover every step needed to restore service in every situation. The idea is to create a program that gives an overview of an organization's approach, capabilities, and lines of communication that ensure the correct people are informed, so the necessary decisions required to normalize business in the shortest possible time can be obtained. The importance of business to its employees and customers should be recognized throughout the entire process. With that in mind, a business should clearly express interest to service the customer and take care of its associates with the appropriate and necessary responses as required by the event--the right business continuity program will show this. It is very important that leaders clearly communicate the actions and quickly organize a strategy. A slow, poorly created response to a situation can be more harmful than no response at all.An organization cannot just think about what they need now but they must also think about what the business footprint looks like in the future. Through all the complicated work streams that come from a crisis, everyone's efforts should focus on four key factors.1. Safety: The safety of employees, visitors, contractors, and the general public must guide all strategic and tactical decisions.2. Compliance: Regulatory mandates of organizations and governmental agencies should guide the planning and implementation.3.Collaboration: Strategizing the go forward plan from line of business leaders, finance, health, safety &environment (HSE), human resources (HR), and more.4. Agility: Stay ready to adapt and respond. Be prepared with appropriate protocols and remain flexible enough to effectively navigate through a future change.As the above factors are managed, each component must also keep in mind the operating and capital expense associates with it and truly understand the action taken will be setting precedence and if not managed appropriately can become a liability not a risk mitigation solution.A crisis is always a struggle for all involved and there is always some type of negative aspect that comes from any incident, but that same crisis also creates opportunity to redefine and re-brand who you are and what you do. Understanding how to manage through these types of events and gather knowledge along the way to make your business stronger and find new opportunities for growth is key for any leader. A storm can devastate a forest and tear down tree after tree. Those trees that have established deep and strong roots re-coop and become even stronger,and from the scars, new and even more effective growth is seen.
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