The future is unpredictable. This is because there are multiple incidences that could disorder the normal operation of your small business therefore resulting to revenue loss and other unplanned expenses. In the past decades, natural disasters were a major concern to many small businesses. These days however, data breaches are seemingly a greater threat. Whatsoever the cause of disruption is, the ability of a small business to move on after the occurrence of a disaster greatly depends on whether it has a reliable business continuity plan. The continuity plan helps the entity to recover in an appropriate manner. Below are 5 tips for creating a small business continuity plan.
- Identify the potential threats
Be sure that your continuity plan applies to a wide variety of possible scenarios that can disrupt the business. These may include employee strikes, power outages, computer network failures, cyber-attacks and many more. Once you identify and understand the potential threats, you will be able to prepare for all the possible contingencies.
- Identify the potential outcomes
Apart from knowing the potential threats that might disorganized the operations of the business, it is of importance to have an “imaginable” picture of what would happen upon the occurrences of such calamities. For instance, you can ask yourself questions like, “What will happen when the small business becomes a ransomware victim? If you feel unprepared for such a possibility, there are high chances of being forced to pay the ransom to regain ultimate control of your files and networks. The other probable outcome is you refusing to pay the ransom and therefore, starting a small business from scratch. The third possibility, which is simpler and more advisable, is preparing a continuity plan which has the suitable technical support. The latter could consist of having a reliable service provider that offers off-site system backups.
- Build a recovery team
Whether you are working with a 3rd party vendor or hiring an in-house data retrieval staff, you will definitely need a well-trained team that will come to action when such a tragedy occurs. The team will help to come up with a continuity plan and also implement it when need arises.
- Create a recovery Plan
A small business continuity plan should be able to identify the critical functions of the entity then come up with ways of restoring them when there is a shutdown. The goal here, is that operations are not disrupted.
- Train Employees
Your employees should be trained, not just to do the jobs they have been hired to do, but to also relate well with other coworkers, be keen on the basic computer security protocols, to act in a responsible, and suitable manner in the work environment and also to be knowledgeable of the steps to follow upon occurrence of a disruption and communicate with their colleagues in times of crisis. These may include informing their superiors, contacting the recovery team and following other prescribed protocols.
Whether it is a natural disaster or an accident, the small business continuity plan will come to your rescue and allow the operations of the entity to run as usual. Do not risk running your business without having this plan.
