Resilience Consulting

A Business Continuity Planning for recovery from a disaster, aims to:

• manage the risks which could result in disastrous events and thus minimise the likelihood of a disaster occurring;
• reduce the time taken to recover when an incident occurs; and
• minimise the risks involved in the recovery process by making the critical decisions in advance in stress-free conditions.

Critical decisions made during the stress of a crisis have a high risk of being wrong, ineffective, and costly.

Business Continuity Planning has three complementary features:

1. Risk reduction – the management of risks to prevent a disaster. This is done by identifying and assessing the risks faced by a Department at their premises which could result in a disaster;
2. Emergency Plan – crisis management of the incident when it occurs (Incident Control) to prevent it from developing into a disaster, and to lessen its impact. The priority is to evacuate staff and others when this is necessary, but essential or valuable information and objects can often be rescued without risk to personal safety
3. Business Continuity Plan – a Plan for the fast, efficient resumption of essential business operations by directing the recovery actions of specified recovery teams. The three elements to consider are the continuity of:

• Office Services – premises, furniture, stationery etc
• Information Technology – communications and computing services; and
• Human and other resources – ensuring that staff:
  – are aware of the alternative arrangements
  – have the resources they need and
  – are productively employed.