Business Continuity
Be Prepared…
What would you do if your business premises
or office were not available, all your paperwork had been destroyed
and the computer network and servers were offline? We all provide
essential services for the community many of which become more
critical during major incidents or emergency situations and it is
essential that they continue.
What is Business Continuity?
Business Continuity Management is the
anticipation of an interruption or incident and the process of
planning to ensure that your critical business functions continue
in a crisis or emergency and that the remainder are recovered in a
rehearsed, controlled and phased manner. Business Continuity Plans
need to be clear, concise and tailored to the needs of the
business. Unplanned events can have catastrophic effects and the
disruptive incidents can come from accidents, criminal activity or
natural disasters. Business Continuity should become part of the
way you perform business. It is better to plan for incidents, which
may affect your business, rather than having to catch up when a
problem occurs.
Why is BCM
important?
Research has shown that 90% of businesses
that lose their data in an emergency close within two years • 80%
of businesses suffering a major incident close within 18 months if
they have no effective BCM plan • 58% of UK businesses were
disrupted in some way by the events of 11 September 2001, with one
in eight companies being seriously affected.
Advice and Assistance
Melton Borough Council maintains plans to
ensure that they can continue to exercise their functions in the
event of an emergency, so far as is reasonably practicable. In
addition to this duty, Melton Borough Council wants to support
local businesses and voluntary organisations in being prepared for
emergencies.
Business Continuity
Toolkit
A toolkit has been published on the
Direct Gov website,
'General Business Continuity Advice'. This provides a
resource for commercial and voluntary organisations who are looking
for assistance in putting BCM arrangements in place and
provides a resource for commercial and voluntary organisations who
are looking for assistance in putting BCM arrangements in place.
This is a step-by-step guide and although it is applicable to all
sizes of organisation across all sectors, it has been developed
specifically for small and medium organisations in the commercial
and voluntary sector that are relatively new to BCM.
Additional guidance
Further advice is available
from:
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