Is your organization future-oriented? Does your organization have its future well covered in the event of any disaster? Have you clearly defined the assets that need protection in your organization in the event of a disaster? Will your organization be able to rise up from the ashes? A Business Continuity Plan in simple terms can be referred to as a plan on how an organization or business strategizes on remaining functional in the event of a disaster happening. The disaster may range from Environmental causes like typhoons, tsunamis, floods, earthquakes; to a break in that leads to the loss of important company property. The Business Continuity plan has at times been called a Disaster Recovery Plan since the two have a lot in common. The difference is that the Disaster Recovery Plan focuses on recovery and placing an organization back to its feet fully whereas the Business Continuity plan focuses on the business continuing to run even as it works to total recovery.
An Effective Business Continuity plan will seek to cover all aspects of the business and prepare adequately to jump back up in the eventuality of an incident that brings the business down. Everyone in the organization should have a copy of the Business Continuity plan and they should all understand the role that they play in it. This will ensure the smooth running of the organization during these trying times. The Business Continuity Plan seems like such a great asset for any organization yet we find that majority of organizations do not actually have it. Why is it?
Most organizations do not have a business continuity plan because of lack of proper company structures. The main question out there is who is responsible for a business continuity plan in an organization and who does it answer to. Most people are stuck between it being under the CEO and the IT Department. The Business Continuity plan derives its roots from the Disaster Recovery plan which means it is under the IT docket. But such a positioning is not effective enough because it needs lots of backing from the executive arm of an organization. Lack of it thereof may ultimately mean it not getting executed.
For any business continuity plan to be effective it is important for the organization to remember that it is not only seeking continuity because of the physical assets but also because of the information assets that they possess. The main problem with most organizations is that they lack an Information Asset Protection Policies. An Information Asset Protection policy directly paves the way for a business continuity plan.
An Information Asset Protection policy of an organization would seek to protect its Information since it is treated as an Asset. This means that the information that an organization holds is of utmost importance and needs to be treated as such. Policies that illustrate how this asset is to be safeguarded for future use are thus very necessary. It is, however, important to recognize that not all information in an organization requires protection. This policy will stipulate clearly how information should be classified and how an organization should be communicating with its clients and employees. Having a well structured Information Asset Protection policy will safeguard an organization from any legal repercussions that may arise in future.
These are concepts that are still foreign in our Kenyan Market and that are very important to every organization. Worry not because Kenvision Techniks is here to watch your organizations back and ensure that your Information Assets are well protected and your Business Continuity Plan is up and running.