Business Continuity Planning Process

You have invested a lot of time and resources into making your business work. Now, imagine that all you have worked for goes up in smoke, literally. Every year emergencies take their toll on business and industry, in lives and dollars. But something can be done. Business and industry can limit injuries and damages and return more quickly to normal operations.

This site is not intended to be restrictive, exhaustive, definitive or overly detailed. It is designed to provide the basic knowledge necessary to help you protect your business from the adverse effects of disasters, large or small. You do not need to have an in-depth knowledge of emergency management or business continuity management to begin. What you need is the authority to create a plan and a commitment from the highest level of management to make emergency management part of your corporate culture. If you already have a plan, use this guide as a resource to assess and update your plan.

There is no hard and fast definition of what constitutes a disaster. Sometimes a disaster develops quickly, hitting you full-force with little or no warning. Other times a disaster looms on the horizon for weeks until it becomes large enough to be a threat. However, the word disaster takes on a new meaning depending on the industry in which you work. A simple water pipe break could spell disaster if you are in the communications business and the break is in your electronic telephone switching area. If you are a business that depends on refrigeration, a power outage could spell disaster. Disasters by definition cannot be planned for, but a clear well thought-out plan can greatly enhance the chances for survival.