Business Continuity

Could your business survive a major disruption, such as a fire or flood?

Or what if the problem was not as extreme - do you know which business functions are critical to the running of your business?

Business Continuity is about anticipating the crises that could affect a firm and planning for them, to make sure that the business can continue to function in the event of an emergency.

It is not just having a Disaster Recovery Plan for your IT system.

Business Continuity address all the requirements essential to keeping the business running and includes processes to keep disruption to customers and employees to a minimum.

British Standards
The standard for Business Continuity Management is BS 25999-2:2007, which is a Specification for a system which can be approved by a certification body, like BSI. Part 1 of the standard is the Code of Practice and other standards exist that cover specific areas, particularly within IT.

BS 25999-2 has the same format and some of the same requirements as ISO 9001 or ISO 14001, with the need for planning, internal audits, management review and improvement and business continuity systems can easily be integrated with these other standards.

Why have a Business Continuity Plan?
Business success is as much about protection as growth. In an uncertain world, that means creating a business with the flexibility to prosper in changing conditions and strong enough to survive should a disaster strike. The ability to withstand serious incidents like flooding and fire, and quickly re-open for ‘business as usual’ is critical. There is also the commercial benefit to consider, as companies with business continuity plans are more attractive to do business with. For example, large businesses that rely on the outsourced services of third parties will prefer to work with suppliers who have a Business Continuity Plan in place.

Implementation and Further Assistance
At SAMS we can assist you to have an appropriate level of Business Continuity for your business from a simple Disaster Recovery Plan to a full Business Continuity system that satisfies the requirements of BS25999 Part 2.

In addition, once your system is in place we can help to carry out internal audits and reviews either specifically for business continuity or for a fully integrated management system.

Please contact us for further information.