Top Threats to Business Continuity
A business plan is essential to keep running after an emergency. Cybersecurity.
Depending on your particular business and level of risk, every brand will have different primary threats to business as usual. That’s why risk assessments prior to assembling a business plan can be so helpful.
While you’ll need to have a plan in place for every possible outcome, the following threats are the most common business continuity disruptors to watch.
1. Global pandemics
Pandemics can throw a wrench in your business plans from all angles and directions. With citizens forced to stay home and do as much work from there as possible, to increased demand for certain items, and decreased supply due to manufacturer shut-downs or disruptions across the supply chain.
One of the most important plans to put in place if you fear a pandemic is how your people will communicate with each other and conduct necessary business offsite. It’s also important to have options when it comes to supply in case your supply chain is disrupted.
2. Natural disasters
A weather-related — tornados, hurricanes, tsunamis, etc. — or other natural phenomena like earthquakes, wildfires, and volcanic eruptions. Some of these disasters are difficult to predict and can onset in seconds. They could cause grave damage to physical structures and anything inside, as well as disrupt supply chains through affected areas.
3. Utility outages
A loss of power generation, communication lines, or water shutoffs can cause severe disruption to day-to-day operations, potentially damaging physical assets, and losing productivity and service.
4. Cybersecurity
A cyberattack (cybersecurity) is any computer-based attack on a technical asset. Examples of cyberattacks include ransomware attacks, data theft, SQL injections, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. At best, your technical infrastructure will be at limited functionality until the issue is resolved. At worst, if you don’t have a data backup, you could potentially lose access to all your business data.
What is a business plan?
A business plan (BCP) is a document that outlines how a business will continue operating during an unplanned disruption in business continuity service. It’s more comprehensive than a disaster recovery plan and contains contingencies for business processes, assets, human resources, and business partners – every aspect of the business continuity that might be affected.
Plans typically contain a checklist that includes supplies and equipment, data backups, and backup site locations. Plans can also identify plan administrators and include contact information for emergency responders, key personnel, and backup site providers. Plans may provide detailed strategies on how business continuity operations can be maintained for both short-term and long-term outages.
