Coincidentally, now may be a very good time to re-emphasize the importance for organizations to maintain robust, practical Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) for their critical business processes – and ensure that these BCPs accommodate unexpected risk events such as those initiated by routine software updates. ??
Ironically, BCPs are outdated as soon as they are published because of changing business and environmental circumstances. However, there are approaches to addressing this irony by incorporating stable scenario recovery strategies and technology enablement.
BCPs should be regularly tested, updated, and aligned with Disaster Recovery, Crisis Communication, and Health & Safety Plans.
Well-written BCPs improve strategic and operational resilience by:
- Minimizing disruption through ensuring that critical functions can continue or be rapidly resumed.
- Reducing financial losses such as lost sales or penalties for not meeting contractual obligations.
- Maintaining customer trust through ensuring that customer service remains uninterrupted.
- Protecting reputation through efficient, effective management and resolution of a disruptive event.
- Increasing compliance in regulated industries (e.g., critical infrastructure).
- Safeguarding employees through alignment with Health & Safety Planning which supports the well-being of people during a disruptive event.
- Preserving data integrity through alignment with Disaster Recovery Planning which supports data backup and recovery.
- Facilitating operational recovery with a structured, safe approach to return to normal operations.
- Improving risk management by identifying potential current and emerging risks which may cause disruptive events.
- Increasing stakeholder confidence through demonstrating diligent resilience against unforeseen events.
Dust off those BCPs and DM me if you would like to discuss this further.
