Business continuity planning; a must!

With the advent of hurricane season, it brings to mind just how important it is to have your business prepared for any sort of business interruption that may arise. It could be weather related (tornado, hurricane, earthquake, flood), man-made (arson, bombing, active shooter) or technological (ransomware, hacking, system crash/data loss). No matter whether your business is large or small, you need to be ready for unexpected events. We spoke with two Canada and US-based industry preparedness professionals in retail and production environments for their three key insights into what to consider in developing your company’s business continuity plan:

Matt Klucowicz, Business Continuity Planner, Canadian Tire, shared these thoughts:

Champions

Maybe your experience has been different than mine, but usually when I tell somebody at a party what I do for a living their first answer is “Oh, cool!” and then as they realize what I actually said, “What is that?” Chances are very good that the rest of the people in your organization are going to have a similar level of knowledge about what you do, and in a world of deadlines, meetings, and constant rescheduling, they aren’t going to be keen on meeting with mysterious people with an unknown function. Even at the best of times when they know exactly who you are, they might not “have the time” for you, and you’re part of a long list of people with hat in hand who needs to ask this very important person for a moment of their time.

How do you get around it? Well having a champion helps. It’s a very rare organization where people don’t have an innate awe of people a couple of strata above them, and when the ‘big ask’ comes from THAT PERSON, everybody drops what they’re doing and gets it done. So, one of the biggest helps to any Business Continuity program is having somebody who has the muscle to get everybody on board, and to make sure people are responsible for their portions of the program. Be aware that you’re going to be working with this person a lot and you will have to be able to advise them on the finer points of business continuity, but if you get this relationship right, you are going to see some real progress in your program.

Make Linkages with Other Teams

The BIA process can be a real game-changer for different teams in your organization. We live in the Information Age and businesses are always craving it and you are going to be collecting valuable data that other teams simply do not have the time to collect. If you are struggling for support or resources, start building those relationships and see who else wants this data too. Since so much of business continuity is built on good relationships in the first place, the process of reaching out is helpful in its own right. You would be surprised where good data can lead, and if you are the gatekeeper of it, you have a better set of cards in your hand.

Just Start

If you are a freshly minted BCM program it can be daunting. There are a lot of factors to consider. Where do you start? What groups do you cover? How much detail do you need? Perfect business continuity is never perfect the first go around, but with each successive round you can be a bit better. Refreshing BIAs, plans, and exercises are all part of the lifecycle, and finding new things to update and improve is beneficial. Forward planning and strategy is critical but I would encourage people to think of it more as a process of a cycle of continuous improvement, than one of refinement where there is a perfect end-state. The river we stepped in is not the river we stand in after-all, so go out and get to work!

Jillian Sulley, Emergency Management Program Supervisor, Devon Energy offered these insights:

• Know your company’s value chain and where disruptions along that value chain could cause stop gaps. Think about the plumbing in your house.  If the pipes become clogged, you may end up with a not so convenient backup in your home.  The same thing is true of your company’s operations.  If part of your supply chain is removed, know how that may back up your entire operations or stop it in its tracks.  Without alternate plans for diverting these  ‘clogged pipes’, your company may sustain substantial and costly downtime or shut in of operations.
• Keep it simple and flexible. Do not overcomplicate your plan. However, when developing a Business Continuity Plan, it is important to consider all stakeholders along your value chain and ensure that all hazards to that value chain are considered as well.  Ensure you have the right mix of people at various levels of leadership and with varying skill sets.  Each area of the company will bring a different perspective to the table.  Also remember that building a BCP plan can be a marathon….not a sprint.
• Test your team’s knowledge of the plan through the execution of a well-designed exercise. There is theory to exercise design.  A well-coordinated and thought out exercise will provide an opportunity for your team to experience how he/she may respond during time of operational disruption.   And remember, your exercise scenario does not always have to start at the point of incident.  What if your exercise started on the 3^rd day of the incident….or day 30?

Another thought:

• The gut of your plan should focus on capabilities of your company and the PROCESS your company will follow regardless of the scenario. Once you have a process in place that may be replicated for all hazards, then your company can consider the specific tactical or detailed concerns of known hazards.