Establishing a business continuity plan

A business-related crisis can take many forms, and how you manage it can lead to positive or negative outcomes. According to Risk Management Essentials, "Crisis management is the act or process of managing a crisis to prevent the occurrence of a catastrophic loss, if possible, and reduce the impact of catastrophic losses to the organization."

Your response to a crisis impacts business continuity. A positive outcome often depends on how frequently you practice responding to various scenarios. So, how prepared are you to manage a business crisis?

Key activities in business continuity planning:

• Assess company activities: Identify critical staff, materials, procedures and equipment needed to keep the business running.
• Identify key contacts: List suppliers, shippers, resources and other businesses you interact with daily.
• Plan for inaccessibility: Determine actions if important buildings, plants, or stores become inaccessible.
• Ensure continuity of critical functions: Focus on essential functions like payroll.
• Compile and test emergency plans: Decide who will participate in creating and testing these plans.
• Define crisis management procedures: Assign individual responsibilities for disaster recovery activities.
• Coordinate with others: Work with neighbors, utility suppliers, shippers, and key customers.
• Review plans annually: Update plans when the business changes or new staff members are recruited.

Additional considerations:

• Assign responsibilities: Clearly identify who will evacuate employees, records and crucial business equipment.
• Have a backup plan: Ensure there's a plan if critical personnel are unavailable during a catastrophe.
• Know what to take: Prepare a list of essential items to take in an emergency.
• Identify alternate power sources: Evaluate the crisis response capabilities of your vendors.

For more information on crisis management and business continuity planning, visit Markel’s Risk Solution Services resources at Risk Solution Services | Markel.

Sources:

• Risk Management Essentials – 2nd Edition. Austin, TX 2014. The National Alliance Research Academy.
• Fundamentals of Risk Management – Understanding, evaluating and implementing effective enterprise risk management. Sixth Edition. New York, NY. 2022. The Institute of Risk Management.