The benefits of a business continuity plan

Why bother to put in place or even think about business continuity? After all, disasters and crises only happen to other companies, never to us!

When was the last time your office was flooded, phone lines was cut or went down? When did a fire occur or the area get cordoned off by the police or gas company? When did a virus hit your computer systems or your hard drive crash? When did that key business proposal get accidentally deleted or the person responsible for it was ill or on holiday and not contactable to ask where something was?

There are many risks occurring all around and to us each and every day but the funny thing is how we all still believe they won�t and that it�s not worth investing a little bit of time thinking about how we might manage or even mitigate such risks.

Clearly the foremost benefit of having a business continuity plan in place is being able to continue trading in light of any disaster.

Other benefits worth noting include the fact that your insurer may look favourably on you and provide a discount. The less of a risk you are, the more protected they feel and consequently this could be reflected in the premium you pay especially if you have a business interruption policy in place.

Or banking purposes, if you are seeking an overdraft or a loan from your bank (or other institute) once again they tend to look more favourably on companies with business continuity in place and this could increase the chances of receiving what you want and also potentially make it less complicated and long winded an ordeal to get what you require.

If you want to know more about business continuity, banks and insurers can provide free business continuity advice and plans which are helpful.

It's worth investing a little time on this as nothing prepares you for a disaster than actually being prepared. Insurance and bank loans are great but at the end of the day you want to be able to continue trading as best you can when that crisis does happen.