We rarely get any notice when a disaster is about to strike. Even if we get some lead time, it wouldn’t be much of help since multiple things can go wrong. For organizations, business disruption can be staggering as it often spells major profit loss due to additional expenses incurred— such scenario emphasizes the importance of having a business continuity plan as part of an organization’s preventive measures.
What exactly is a Business Continuity plan and how is it going to serve its purpose? Business Continuity Plan is a proactive process that allows a company to identify potential weaknesses and threats to their organization. It provides a system of prevention and recovery from risks to ensure that company assets are protected and able to function quickly in case of a disaster. Risks may include natural disasters, human error or cyber-attacks.
BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN COMPONENTS
1. Impact of Risks to Operations
A Business Continuity Plan objective should always be specific. These points will serve as their guide to come up with a risk assessment process to help them identify the different threats that can potentially harm an organization’s business operation.
2. Procedures to Mitigate Risks
One major part of the Business Continuity concept is creating procedures to avoid a major operation fiasco. These procedures should be in line with the objectives of the plan and must have a consistent approach tailored to the organization’s needs.
3. Procedure Testing
Once the procedures are established, it should then go through disaster simulation testing to determine its capability to withstand different types of threats. Through this simulation, the organization will be able to identify the solution’s weaknesses and gives them time to make corrections or amendments.
4. Process Review
Business Continuity Plan should go through a process review to ensure that the solution is still capable of minimizing the impact of different risks without halting the business operations.
A pivotal component of the Business Continuity Plan checklist is about Document Management. Did you know that 90% of businesses that lose data from a disaster are forced to shut down within two years? Given the disturbing rate, it clearly shows how imperative it is to have a document management system in place as an important component of an organization’s business continuity plan.
What is Document Management in a nutshell? Document Management is a process that converts your paper documents to digital files which allows you to create a structure depending on the needs of the organization. This process reduces downtime and eradicates potential data loss which can revolutionize the way an organization manage their documents.
Document Management System requires a holistic framework as it helps you assess the needs of every department within an organization and provides you:
1. Uninterrupted Data Availability
Document Management System grants you access to data or documents round the clock.
2. Enhanced Security
The system also provides you better control over sensitive information. Document access can be configured by the administrator thus enhancing the security and leaves a trail of users who modified the document.
3. Efficient Retrieval
Document Management System is a powerful time-saving tool that grants access to documents in a matter of seconds virtually everywhere.
4. Automated Document Back-up
A Document Management System is equipped with a back-up and recovery plan which protects your documents from different threats. Documents are also stored in a centralized database thus, cutting the possibility of misplacing a document.
Check out our webinar on-demand to understand the Business Continuity Plan idea and Document Management!
SOURCES:
https://infographicjournal.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-business-continuity-planning/
