COVID-19 – business continuity Test phase
One of the most important parts of developing a business continuity plan is the rehearsed testing phase. It will help you to see in practice how your plan will operate when an incident occurs. Review and improve areas of the plan that do not work effectively during the testing phase. Consider different variations of testing, including a full building loss (as though there were a fire, for example), or more specific scenarios such as a loss of data. Trial planned outages, test new systems
and ask your team to try alternative working arrangements so that you know how your strategy could work in practice. Disaster simulation is the most effective way to test out your plan, as it gives your team the opportunity to implement procedures and detect any flaws or inconsistencies. However, this is perhaps the most disruptive option. You could alternatively gather key personnel within the business for a desktop review of the plan. This will give you an opportunity to talk through any issues or changes on a more regular basis, in order to minimise the cost and disruption of disaster simulation. To perform the test, your company will need to assemble the BCDT, which must act as it would in a real disaster, taking charge of assigned roles.
Consult experts
Business continuity should become embedded in the culture of your business. Strive to achieve a high standard of plans and procedures that will safeguard your business against disaster. Businesses need to maximise their ability to recover by creating a comprehensive business continuity plan with the help of dedicated risk management experts. They will help businesses achieve the ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management certification, which ensures that a business is thoroughly assessing its potential risks and has the ability to adapt to incidents that may disrupt its operations. Risk managers know the pitfalls businesses are likely to face – they’ve seen it all before, and can accurately identify weak spots and help put measures in place to minimise risk. Creating a business continuity plan without
an expert on hand to help will almost certainly not be helpful in practice. Specialist risk managers work closely with you to understand your business, help you to understand how to protect against the various scenarios which could affect your business, and furthermore will provide advice on plans you could put in
FOCUS
place to bolster business operations a long way in advance of a disaster happening, thus minimising disruption at the earliest stage.
Plan ahead
We can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel now, as businesses reemerge after lockdown and face up to the new normal. But this does not mean that there are not significant lessons to be learned. It is time for businesses to prioritise proactive risk management and planning. We have seen from recent events that reacting to a crisis as and when it happens simply is not the most effective way to safeguard a business. Mitigating risks in advance and preparing for life’s ‘what ifs’ is crucial to securing the future of your business
Simon Mabb is managing director of Romero Insurance Brokers. For more information, view page 3
www.frmjournal.com JULY/AUGUST 2020 27
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