Definitions: Business Continuity

Definition

Business continuity is a daily process by which an enterprise ensures that its most critical functions are accessible by those who need them in case of some type of disruption. The activities covered in the business continuity structure might include call center management, system backups, or any daily chore or service on which the business relies to run smoothly.

A disaster recovery plan is not the same as daily business continuity; however, a plan for recoverability in the instance of a disaster may be part of the overall business continuity plan. A well-developed business continuity methodology would also include such components as: policies, standards, procedures, organization structure, security management,  change management, document management and service level agreements.

All companies should take time to create a business continuity plan. Before such a plan can be created, though, the management must identify the most critical areas of the business and which must be protected and made accessible in the event of a crisis. Other considerations include budgeting for the business continuity plan itself, considering outside help from a company that provides business continuity planning (BCP), and identifying the various areas of the business that should be involved in the planning.

Business  Continuity Planning

A comprehensive business continuity plan can ensure that a company continues to bring in revenue even during interruptions such as power outages, loss of key employees, disruptions in service from outside providers, or any other problems a business could encounter. Creating such a plan will involve input from many areas of the company, and the scope of the plan will depend upon the size of the company and the way it performs its business.

The end result of business continuity planning should be a printed reference manual that various business areas can utilize when necessary. The manual itself will vary in size and scope—a printed document for a smaller business may contain basic information and be stored offsite in case of emergency, while a larger company might require several volumes for each area affected by the crisis and be available from various sites and possibly online. Either way, the manual should be easy to use and mesh with the company’s disaster recovery and risk management strategies.

There are five main phases that BCP manual creation should include:

• Analysis of business impact, threats, and potential scenarios that would require the manual’s usage.
• Determining solutions for the crisis command structure and secondary worksite location (if necessary); plus how communications, data, hardware, and software will be supplied and used at the secondary site.
• Implementation of any elements determined in the solution phase.
• Testing the plan and achieving organization acceptance among the various company areas affected.
• Maintenance of the manual through awareness training of staff who hold critical roles along with periodic testing and verifying of procedures as outlined.

Concerns

One of the largest concerns when creating a business continuity plan is that of cost. Larger companies will require more money to create, test, and utilize a comprehensive business continuity plan. However, when you consider how much money a company could lose if it experienced  disruptions of service, paying for a well-created plan for continuing business during a crisis may seem like money well spent to the upper  management.

Technical Aspects

As most businesses rely on various areas of technology to run properly, most business continuity strategies mainly involve IT. A well-developed plan would likely involve ensuring Web site availability, providing staff with Internet and e-mail access, and providing access to necessary computer systems and software.

A relatively new technology to the business continuity plan is virtualization. Many larger companies utilize virtualization technologies for storage and to supply applications to users. Virtualized machines can often be recovered more quickly since copies can be stored offsite in case of a server failure, which makes the technology ideal for many business continuity scenarios. However, the technology is still in its infancy and many applications may not run in a virtual environment.