Prepare for the Unexpected: Business Continuity (Webinar Recap)

By Katelyn Orrok | Thursday, July 20th, 2017

Read below for a recap of our recent BCP webinar or scroll down to watch the full replay.

In light of the recent attacks in London, many firms are bolstering their business resiliency plans to ensure they remain operational during a natural, technological or man-made disaster. When it comes to business continuity planning, the first thing to remember is that it is not about if an attack will happen but when. Many firms often believe that they will never be directly targeted, but what they don’t realize is that they could be indirectly impacted as a result of a variety of scenarios.

Internal Risk Events

Critical Staff Unavailable
IT Failure
Building Utility Failure

External Risk Events

Extreme Weather
Terrorism
External Cyber Attacks

Take our word for it.

Recently, Eze Castle Integration moved office locations in London. In fact, we had just finished moving into our office, and minutes later, the London Bridge attack occured. Fortunately, all of our employees were safe, but the next day our office was closed due to the ongoing investigation. With an updated business continuity plan in place, Eze Castle employees were still able to run business operations as usual.

Take our real-life scenario as a lesson that even if you have security in place, disaster scenarios can still happen either directly or indirectly, and thus it's best to be prepared.

What does developing a business continuity plan entail?

Step 1: Identify by utilizing risk assessments.

Identify and prioritize potential business risks and disruptions based on severity and likelihood of occurrence.

Step 2: Analyse the effects on your business (Business Impact Analysis).

Recovery assumptions, including Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO)
Critical business processes and workflows as well as the supporting production applications
Interdependencies, both internal and external
Critical staff including backups, skill sets, primary and secondary contacts
Future endeavors that may impact recovery
Special circumstances

Step 3: Design, execute and implement a strategy.

Distribute the plan to all key stakeholders
Conduct training sessions to help ensure employees are comfortable with the steps outlined in the plan

Step 4: Measure - Plan testing, training and maintenance.

A BCP is not a one time project. It is a living document that must be updated (at least) annually to ensure it accounts for changes within the firm as well as any changes in risk scenarios.

Outsourcing Considerations for Business Continuity

If your firm opts to hire a third party to assist with the development, implementation and ongoing maintenance of Business Continuity Planning, it is important to consider: