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Business Continuity Planning A requirement in today’s volatile environment! If a disaster hit your business today: Would you know what to do and be able to systematically manage the crisis? Would you be able to continue operating your business effectively? Would you be able to continue generating income Do you have a Business Continuity Plan? Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |

Disasters and consequences From an earthquake to a stolen laptop, every business is at risk and the need to manage risk has nothing to do with the size of your business. A major disruption can be external or internal, i.e.: –Natural disasters: earthquake, flood or tornado –Local event: a major power outage –Personal / internal event: computer failure, illness, burglary These types of disruptions are beyond your control and the crisis they can create must be addressed before disasters occur A Gartner research found that 50% of all businesses fail after experiencing a major disruption Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |

Don’t think you need a Business Continuity Plan? Studies reveal that small businesses, particularly sole proprietors, are less able to survive a disaster, because many do not have a Business Continuity Plan. Ask yourself: What would happen to your business if: –You are taken ill –Your office is burnt down –Your computer dies on you –A key staff member leaves at short notice –You lose your access to the Internet and messages Do you have procedures in place to enable you to: –Continue your business with a minimum of delay –Minimise impact on the quality of the delivery of your services or products –Minimise loss of income Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |

Business Continuity Management BCM requires a comprehensive understanding of your business and all of its processes Your business processes should be documented in your Operations Manual –Without formal documentation, how could anyone fill in for you effectively and efficiently in your absence, whether you’re on holiday or away due to illness, whether short or long-term? –How else can you be consistent in operating your business? Have you got a Business Continuity Plan? 2008 Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services | “Business Continuity Management is the act of anticipating incidents which will affect critical functions and processes for the organisation and ensuring that it responds to any incident in a planned and rehearsed manner ”. Business Continuity Institute – the professional body for Business Continuity Management

What is a Business Continuity Plan? A formal and comprehensive Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is an essential part of Business Continuity Management (BCM). Part of business continuity planning is the assessment of the likely risks that can occur, and the measure of their impact on your business BCM is the ongoing process of creating, testing, and maintaining the procedures to be followed in the event of a disaster Disaster may sound too “heavy” a word for some of the events just mentioned, but to the average small business owner, those would be a disaster because of the extent of their impact — unless they have a BCP in place 2008 Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |

Benefits of having Business Continuity Plan With a Business Continuity Plan: Your loss of business income will be lessened Your business will stay viable and profitable in the long term Your stress levels will be drastically reduced Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |

Basics of a Business Continuity Plan The cost of Business Continuity Planning is not insignificant –It should be reviewed as the cost associated with the survival of the business –It should be considered as a form of insurance – insurance against failure of your organisation Your planning should be developed from the following perspectives: 1.Prevention: what can be done to prevent the crisis from occurring in the first place 2.Detection: what can be done to ensure timely detection of the crisis 3.Correction: what can be done to respond to and recover from the crisis Addressing all three perspectives will provide the basis to develop a Business Continuity Plan that is integrated, economically sound and comprehensive Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |

Risk analysis List the risks –Identify critical processes and functions of your business –Identify key internal and external dependencies these processes and function rely upon List corresponding impact of those risks on your business –Identify external influences that may impact upon these critical processes and functions Prioritise –Calculate risks to prioritise mitigation using a simple grid calculation provided further in this presentation Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |

Risk assessment summary What are your resources and what are the risks to these resources? Typical business risks include: Input risks – small and large –Supplier failure, , fax, telephone, postal mail and courier Your unavailability –Illness or family commitments Output risks (the reverse of input risks) –Loss of customers due to lack of service, products delivery, etc. Other risks –Human error: natural and technological 2008 Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |

Prioritising risks Using the grid provided on the following slide, assess: Probability – determining the likelihood of an event impacting a business process –Use a rating of 1 for low, 2 for medium and 3 for high – very likely, keeping in mind that some events may be seasonal, thereby changing their rating with the season Impact – quantifying the probability of the risk occurring –Use a rating of 1 for low or unlikely, 2 for medium and 3 for high – very likely. –Impact involves a further analytical measurement process including: Loss of income (for one hour, one day, a week, a month) Cost of replacing lost income Damage to reputation Any penalties that may be incurred as a result of not completing or delivering work on time (overdue by one hour, one day, a week, a month) Increased insurance premium(s) Cost of organising business succession, if a choice This is an essential part of compiling your BCP. There is no sense in spending time and/or money on preparing for something that may never happen, or even if it did, would have no, or negligible impact on any of your business resources. So what you need is a method of calculating the priority of the risks you have identified; in other words, deduce the cost effectiveness of dealing with each risk. This is an essential part of compiling your BCP. There is no sense in spending time and/or money on preparing for something that may never happen, or even if it did, would have no, or negligible impact on any of your business resources. So what you need is a method of calculating the priority of the risks you have identified; in other words, deduce the cost effectiveness of dealing with each risk Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |

Calculating risk to prioritise mitigation Calculating the values to be applied when determining priorities – don’t forget cost effectiveness! I N S T R U C T I O N S If the probability of losing your ISP connection is low (1), and the impact would be high (3), mark (1x3=3) in the matrix for this item If the probability of an earthquake is high (3) and the impact high (3), mark (3x3=9) in the matrix for this item Mitigation for the earthquake would rate higher in priority than for the loss of the ISP connection Apply this process to each of the risks you have identified Having made these calculations you can now prioritise your mitigation You might also need to anticipate subsequent contingencies, such as securing the premises to prevent looting after damage to the building. High 369 Medium 246 Low 123 MediumHigh IMPACT PROBABILITY SOURCE: This example is derived from “A Guide the Perplexed Business Owner”—published by Ennovate Inc Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |

Risk mitigation Mitigation strategies typically focus on: Recovery –Continuity –Delayed recovery Hours Days Weeks Cost effectiveness To mitigate something is to moderate its severity so, starting from your “number 9” priorities write in the relevant mitigation activity; in other words what strategy or strategies would you employ when or if, each of these events occur. For example, make complementary arrangements with another business in a different locale so that in the event of a local power failure you can conduct your current work at their premises if need be. The strategies devised should ensure the continuity, or timely recovery of business activities whilst maintaining economic prudence. This can be achieved by using multiple strategies, each addressing the different priorities identified in the Business Impact Analysis. For example, some activities cannot and must not stop and require a strategy that ensures their continuity. Such activities would include airline reservation systems, patient care systems, etc. Other activities can sustain interruptions measured in hours, days or even weeks. Strategies are accessible to meet the needs of all such requirements Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |

Formalising your Business Continuity Plan Now is the time to put things together. You’ve listed the risks You’ve listed the impact of these risks You’ve listed the probabilities of their occurrence You’ve prioritised them You’ve devised strategies to mitigate these risks Add to this fledgling plan responsibilities, emergency telephone numbers and contact numbers If you have documented your business, you will have a lot of material already. If you haven’t then now is the time to do it When you have written the first version of your plan, test it to make sure you know what to do should the real thing happen; testing provides concrete proof of the viability of your Business Continuity Plan and will probably lead to revision of some of your strategies. Better to find out now than when it actually happens Remember - This planning is a form of insurance - insurance against failure of your business. Revisit and test this plan at least every 6 months, but keep the content current – business drivers change and technology changes The ultimate objective of Business Continuity Planning is to identify, analyse, evaluate, treat, and monitor and review risks; the plan should achieve an optimum balance between Exposure to Risk and its Treatment (Cost of Risk Control, Risk Retention and/or Risk Transfer / Insurance). In short, assurance as to the availability and continuity of your business processes. All responsible business owners have fire insurance. Most of them never have the need to use it but they carry it anyway. The same philosophy is true with a business continuity management plan. If you do not have one, stop and visualise how you would act and feel during the first five minutes after a disaster strikes your business. Ask someone who has experienced it, to describe how they felt when their hard drive crashed – and they had no backup. … and don’t forget to keep at least one copy of your BCP off-site! Compile the plan Test the plan Revise the plan Revisit the plan Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |

Business Continuity Plan If you have any questions, please contact Terence Kierans at: with “Business Continuity Plan” in the subject line Copyright Cyberspace Virtual Services |