Business Continuity Planning

What is Business Continuity Planning?

BCP identifies recovery alternatives that cost effectively restore critical business functions (e.g. Information Systems) within an acceptable time frame. A recovery plan is developed around the recovery solution authorized by management. The plan is then exercised to train the recovery organization, to define changes necessary in the plan to strengthen it, and provide a tested vehicle which, when executed, will permit an effective resumption of interrupted business functions and operations.

The Business Case for Continuity Planning:

Business survival necessitates planning for every type of business disruption including— but by no means limited to—natural disasters; hardware and communications failures; internal or external sabotage or acts of terrorism; and the failures of supply chain and sales affiliate organizations. While such disruptions cannot be predicted, they can wreak havoc upon the business, with results ranging from insured losses of replaceable tangibles, to uninsurable capital losses, to customer dissatisfaction and possible desertion, to complete insolvency.

Business Contingency Planning focuses on questions such as:

• When disaster strikes, how do I reestablish operational functions?

• When do the impacts of the disaster begin?

• How much loss can be tolerated?

• What are the options?

• What will a recovery plan cost?