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Five steps to continuity
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Five steps to continuity
To put together a robust continuity plan, each business needs to
understand its key strengths and weaknesses.
Each business should follow these five easy
steps -- to help give their organisation the best
possible chance to survive in an emergency or disaster.
Follow the five steps below to help safeguard your
business.
Understand your business
- Identify the vital parts of your business that need to be
restored immediately if there is failure [hyperlink]
- Understand the risks that you are most likely to face both
inside and outside of your organisation [hyperlink]
- Put in place mechanisms that will help you to disaster-proof
your organisation [hyperlink]
Read these guides to help you better understand your
business
Take a look at Business
Continuity: Expecting the Unexpected in an Uncertain World
(PDF 200kb) to access a checklist that will help you
to see how well your company is performing in business continuity
management terms. If you are a Small to Medium Business
Enterprise (SME) and want to put together a robust plan, read AXA's
Business Continuity Guide for Small Businesses (PDF
991kb).
Evaluate the state of your business reserves
Take a look at the following critical areas of your business to
calculate the bare minimum 'reserves' that you need to function
during a crisis period. Once you have identified the
essential needs in each area, you must ensure that these figures
are published and that each member of staff is aware of the need to
ensure these key processes are prioritised:
- alternates/back-up
- communications
- equipment
- external suppliers/contractors
- information
- people
- premises
List the critical functions of your business
Make a list of the critical functions of your business.
Critical functions are those parts of your business that your
organisation cannot function without. For example, If you are
a publisher, then your critical functions will be
editorial and publishing. Think hard about which parts of
your organisation provide the heartbeat for your business and
document those functions and the resources required to run them in
a time of crisis. You must also make sure that there are user
friendly tools in place for disaster recovery.
Train and test your staff
You need to put in place rigorous procedures that will enable
your staff to react quickly in the event of an emergency.
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