Business Continuity Advice. Loss of premises

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1 Loss of premises Consider the impact on your organisation if you are unable to use your premises for whatever reason. Maybe a fire, flood, or loss of electricity. Even an incident on the transport network or a neighbouring site may mean that access to your premises is denied for a time. Your stock, equipment and information may be damaged and your customers and suppliers may not know how to reach you. You should consider what information, equipment and resources you require to be able to carry out your critical functions at an alternative location. Work Area Recovery (WAR) Some organisations have predetermined WAR sites. These are offices, factories, etc. that have been identified to be used if the primary location becomes unavailable for whatever reason. These could be something as simple as agreeing office space with another office or branch or having an alternative call centre ready to go. There are third party specialists who provide WAR for organisations. Relocation of Staff Staff could be relocated to other accommodation owned by your organisation. It may be possible for some staff to work from home. You should consider what information and equipment people would require to do this effectively. It is also worth checking in advance that people can log into the server if required. Some organisations only have capacity for a limited number of remote access logins at any one time so it would be worth checking this before they were required and prioritising who requires access. Mutual Aid Agreements You could consider borrowing space or spare capacity from other organisations. For example you could run a night shift in another companies premises. Transferring work You could consider transferring aspects of your work to a trusted competitor, or transferring incoming calls to a call handling company. Build Temporary Premises Depending on how long your premise will be unavailable and if there is space for a temporary building this may be an option. There are companies that provide portakabin type buildings at short notice.

2 Protecting your Information Consider the impact on your organisation if you are unable access your information and data for whatever reason. Maybe a problem with the IT, flood in an archive basement, security issue or loss of a laptop. You should consider what information and data you have that is vital to enable you to carry out your critical functions. What would the impact be if you lost all your customer contact details? Think about the consequence if you can t access your accounts, your supplier information or pay the wages. Back up Electronic Data Your electronic data should be backed up and if possible kept off site. There are a variety of options for this from saving files onto a memory stick, using the cloud, having duplicate servers or a mirrored site. Keep a copy of essential documents safe Consider what information is essential to enable your organisation to continue to function. Keep essential documents safe, either offsite or in a fire proof safe. Security Have you got policies in place to ensure that your information is secure? Ensure passwords are secure, filing cabinets are locked, ID badges are used, etc. IT Protection Ensure that a firewall is installed and virus protection in place. Consider what you can do to minimise the loss or corruption of data (maybe by disgruntled staff). Passwords Individual passwords need to be secure but make sure that you don t have a single point of failure with only one person knowing how to access a critical software package or file. Back up paper systems - If your critical activities rely on IT systems or data stored electronically consider putting procedures in place so that there is a paper back up system that can be used if required. Procedures Review your procedures relating to Information to make sure they are robust and sustainable. This could include electronic systems, data protection and file retention policies.

3 Suppliers and Partners Consider the impact on your organisation if your key suppliers or partners had a problem so were unable to supply your parts, or deliver their service to you. You need to understand who your priority suppliers / partners are those you depend on to undertake your critical activities. This could include anything including the suppliers of components, stationary or utilities to the supply of contracted out services such as IT, call centres or transport. Critical resources If you have equipment or resources that are critical to your organisation that you buy in or outsource, you could consider having a dual supply or sourcing from several suppliers. That way if one of your key suppliers suffers a disruption you have an alternative. Identify Alternative Suppliers For some of your critical resource you may want to consider identifying alternative suppliers. Have Resilient Suppliers Encourage or require your suppliers or partners to have a validated business continuity capacity. Contracts As well as requiring suppliers to have BC arrangements, you could consider adding a significant penalty clause to contracts. Relationships Build good relationships within your supply chain, that way if there are any disruptions all parties will understand the implications and options available to ensure effective recovery.

4 People Issues Consider the impact on your organisation if you lost key staff. Many things could cause staff to leave or be unavailable to carry out their role. A lottery syndicate win could see a whole team leaving. An outbreak of influenza or other illness could mean that your staff numbers drop considerably for a time. A key employee leaving to work for another organisation may have an impact on you. Cross Training Ensure that skills are shared across a number of individuals; this will be invaluable if you lost key staff and will also assist for holiday and sickness cover. This will insure that you are not dependent on a few staff for key skills. Contracts Ensure that employment contracts are robust and periods of notice for key staff have been considered. Third Party Support You could consider using temporary staff from an agency or using third party support backed up by contractual agreements. Process Mapping Document activities so staff can undertake roles with which they are unfamiliar. Having knowledge stored in people s heads will not help the orgnaisation if they are off sick or unavailable. Single Point of Failure Make sure that there is not one person who is the only person who can use a particular software system, knows the password for a critical file, holds the key to the filing cabinet or has the customer contact details stored on their mobile phone.

5 Business Continuity Planning Principles What you would do if your organisation was hit by an incident interrupting your everyday processes? Any incident, large or small, natural, accidental or deliberate could result in severe disruption. Time spent now can prevent that disruption turning into a disaster for your organisation. Business Continuity Management (BCM) is about identifying those parts of your business that you can t afford to lose such as information, stock, premises, staff and planning how to maintain these if an incident occurs. It s about planning to ensure that you can return to business as usual as quickly and as painlessly as possible in the event of a disruption. Whether you are a market trader, a voluntary organisation, a SME or a global institution you need to be able to continue with your critical activities, whatever happens. You also need to make sure that your key suppliers and partners have effective BCM arrangements in place to ensure that an incident affecting them doesn t impact on you. Developing Business Continuity arrangements, and documenting your procedures in a plan, will assist you in managing your risks to ensure that, at all times, your organisation can continue operating to at least a predetermined minimum level. This will enable you to continue service delivery during and beyond an emergency. It s simpler than you think! Business Continuity is often described as just common sense. You just need to think about what it is that your organisation does, what could disrupt it, what the impact would be and how you would respond. All these thoughts then need to be documented to ensure that everybody in the organisation knows and understands the role they play. There are some very simple steps that you can take to make your organisation more resilient. A simple plan template is available free