Business Continuity Planning

It is now generally recognized that Business Continuity Planning and disaster recovery planning are vital activities. However, the creation of (and maintenance of) a sound business continuity and disaster recovery plan, is a complex undertaking, involving a series of steps.

A sound disaster recovery / business continuity plan is essential to protect the well being of an organization. This cannot really be over emphasized… yet many enterprises still side step the issue or hold plans which are clearly out of date or inadequate. Part of the reason for this is the complexity of the task. This is not helped by some vendors selling planning products which are themselves extremely difficult to master.

Prior to creation of the plan itself, it is essential to consider the potential impacts of disaster and to understand the underlying risks: these are the foundations upon which a sound business continuity plan or disaster recovery plan should be built. Following these activities the plan itself must be constructed - no small task. This itself must then be maintained, tested and audited to ensure that it remains appropriate to the needs of the organization. And what about the support infrastructure and services?

Business continuity plans enable organizations to protect their employee and assets and resume operations in an expedient and controlled fashion. Business continuity plans contain a series of key elements:

• A risk management program that includes clearly defined roles and responsibilities, including support organization functions
• Specific incident/emergency management responses that identify assembly areas at a safe distance from the site of the incident
• Accessible recovery locations and emergency operations centers
• A process for automatically switching telephone and data lines
• Manual processes for continuing operations until technology is repaired
• Processes to deal with the loss of information that are not available from backup data
• Testing of the business continuity plans on an end-to-end basis
• A BCP awareness program
• A review process to keep the BCP up-to-date

Developing a sound business continuity plan is crucial to preventing even a minor disruption from turning into a catastrophe. A process model that effectively responds to an incident may prevent the emergence of a crisis.

Why TBG Security?

TBG Security assists our clients in identifying critical business processes and exploring strategies that include:

• A strong business continuity plan that maps out an organizational structure and lists distinct roles and responsibilities
• An integrated approach combining Business Continuity, Emergency Response, and Crisis Management
• A business continuity strategy that is based upon the needs of each firm’s business functions
• Well documented plans, including information technology, business relocation, manual workarounds, and data restoration

TBG Security consultants have deep experience in business continuity and understand the importance of complying with regulatory requirements and fiduciary responsibilities in order to avoid potential penalties and litigation. With a global network of certified BCP consultants — coupled with our independence — we are able to bring to bear the BCP solution that is right for your organization.

For more information about our Business Continuity Planning Services, contact us our .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call us directly at 877.233.6651.