Business Continuity Planning

Business Continuity Management (BCM) is the process of planning to ensure that your business can return to "business as usual" as quickly and painlessly as possible in the event of a major disruption. 

We’ve pulled together some simple information on how to plan for business disruptions - whether you’re a micro-business or an international company, you should find the information you need to help keep your business running.

Why should I plan for business disruptions?

A disaster can strike any organisation, large or small. It can arrive in the shape of storm, flood, fire, a terrorist bomb, action by pressure groups, or product contamination.

How should I plan for business disruptions?

This is a five-step guide to get you started on business continuity planning - use the links below to go to each section

Step 1: Analyse your business
Step 2: Assess the risks
Step 3: Plan and prepare
Step 4: Communicate your plan
Step 5: Test your plan 

How should I respond to a business disruption?

Check out our information on responding to business disruption, and what actions you can take in the short and long term to minimise the impact on your business.

It is not the 'headline-making' major disasters that are responsible for the majority of business continuity problems. More mundane and common occurrence can have a potentially costly effect.

These include:-

- Information security incidents
- Data loss or integrity issues
- IT equipment or system loss
- Communication services failure
- Availability of key staff