The benefits of Business Continuity planning

Business Continuity is normally driven by external pressure, from a regulator or customer for example, and is seen only as an expense to most businesses. TMC Business Continuity Consultants work with their customers to move away from that model and towards one that provides business benefits. It is possible to not only deliver cost neutral Business Continuity but also to make cost savings because of it.

With TMC you will be able to tick the Business Continuity Plan box on tender forms, customer requests and insurance documents and also deliver a business benefit through having your processes examined by an experienced consultant. Identifying the risks related to a process means our consultants can advise on ways to improve the process and make it less risky.

Business Continuity versus Disaster Recovery

One of the most common questions we are asked is what is the difference between Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery. The answer can be quite complex, but a good summary is that Disaster Recovery is what happens to recover the business after a disruptive incident, while Business Continuity is the planning and process that ensures the point the business is recovered to is what is required. Traditionally Disaster Recovery is associated with IT Systems while Business Continuity covers the whole business.

An example of the difference is that a Business Continuity Strategy will tell the business how important e-mail is to them, how long they can function without it and how quickly it needs to be back working. A Disaster Recovery Strategy for an e-mail outage will describe the steps to recover the e-mail system without explaining how important it is and why it needs recovering.

Our Business Continuity Consultants with specific experience in IT Disaster Recovery. All of them are members of the BCI (Business Continuity Institute) and where appropriate are SBCI or MBCI (Specialist or Member of  the Business Continuity Institute) in the Strategic Services Faculty.

Levels of Business Continuity

Our Business Continuity Consultancy covers a range of different levels to suit all types and sizes of business. Our main category levels are listed below, but if you need a bespoke solution please see our contact page to get in touch.

Resilience Planning

If you have one system or process that is critical to the business and just want to make it more resilient in the case of a disaster then this service is for you. It doesn't require the design of a DR or BC plan, our consultant will review the system and advise on ways to make it more likely to survive an incident. Types of systems covered by this include e-mail, websites and phone systems. Processes include payroll and invoicing.

Disaster Recovery Planning

If you have a system that is resilient as you are willing to budget for but need a documented plan to get the system back up and running as quickly as possible following an interruption then Disaster Recovery Planning is the next logical step. Working with the process owners our consultant will identify the critical areas and prepare a step by step checklist to recover the system. They will also advise if the expectations for recovery are unrealistic and will liaise with suppliers to ensure that any dependency on them is resolved. Recovering a system is a lot more complex than just restoring backup tapes, especially if there are legal compliance requirements, so help from an experienced consultant can be invaluable.

Business Continuity Strategy

The Strategy document is a combination of a company strategy and a policy. Working with the Senior Management Team our consultant will develop a vision into a strategy and a from their produce policies for the company. If a business has internal resources for developing the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans it is often the case that guidance from an outside source at the project kick-off can focus these resources. The Strategy is the keystone of the Business Continuity Management System, it ensures everyone is meeting the same standards and gives Senior Management ownership of the whole project.

Business Continuity Planning

Taking you all the way from a Strategy through Business Continuity to Disaster Recovery this service covers the needs of most businesses. Working with all levels of your company our consultant will define the Business Continuity Strategy with the Senior Management, complete a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) with the department heads, perform a risk analysis, create Incident Management, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans and deliver a manageable plan for future maintenance by your own company. An optional test can also be arranged as part of this package.

Business Continuity Management System

If you need BS25999 certification then a Management System is a must to get the tick against Part 2 (BS2599-2). Building on the Business Continuity Planning above this service adds an auditable Management System to control the documents and the processes of Business Continuity. If you have an existing Management System for ISO9001, ISO27001 or a similar standard then we may be able to match Business Continuity to that system, hopefully saving on future audit fees.

Business Continuity Testing

If you have existing Business Continuity Planning in place (either from us or from another source) one of the most critical tasks is to regularly test the plans. This should be done at least annually and more regularly for some industries. The use of external consultants during a test can bring in a much needed independent view and with the consultant acting as the facilitator it frees up your own resources for the test. From tabletop testing all the way through to an unscheduled test our consultants can bring a valuable contribution to the success of the event.

Business Continuity Review

Are your existing plans potentially out of date, developed by an employee no longer with the company or are you concerned they may not cover the critical areas? A TMC Consultant can review your plans, advise on their suitability and suggest where improvements could be made. Wherever possible our consultant will provide you with the information to make these improvements yourself. If you have a Business Continuity plan sat on a shelf somewhere then this is the service for you.

Business Continuity Template

The DIY or semi Do It Yourself approach to Business Continuity. You can purchase a Technology Management and Consultancy Business Continuity template that comes with documents for all areas of the plan. A written guide will walk you through the process of creating a Strategy, developing a policy, completing a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) of the entire business and doing a risk analysis of the processes. Once that initial phase is complete the guide will then provide advice on creating actual Business Continuity Plans and Disaster Recovery Plans. The template package has optional extras of phone and e-mail support, on-site consultancy during parts of the process and a test run by a TMC Business Continuity Consultant.