Developing a Business Continuity Plan

What Business Continuity is… and Why It’s Important

Business Continuity Impact Analysis Recovery Strategies Testing & Maintenance Plan DevelopmentHave you ever wondered how your business would continue to serve customers with critical products and services after a disaster? Do you know what those critical products and services are? Do you know what processes must continue within your operations to provide these essential products and services?

Disasters Happen… Is Your Business Ready?

Disasters happen; a risk assessment will help identify which disasters an organization is most vulnerable to. Disasters occur from unpredictable events, such as natural disasters, extreme weather, fires, floods, pandemics, and cyberattacks. A business continuity plan (BCP) provides a business of any size the opportunity to answer the questions stated above, identify risks, document mitigating procedures, quickly access contact information.

The three key elements of a BCP are resilience, recovery, and contingency. Elements of resilience include data and system redundancies, maintaining a surplus capacity, and cross-training employees on critical processes. After a disaster, restoring an organization is vital, and prioritizing the most important systems and processes for business recovery is crucial. Strategies for recovery may include systems and applications, third party agreements, and additional inventories. The contingency plan includes procedures for external situations such as leasing emergency office or factory space, hardware replacement, and damage assessments.

A Plan to Recover

A BCP documents how a business will address the loss of facilities, personnel availability, and information technology systems. While developing a BCP, it is important to understand what functions are most critical to supporting essential activities. This process is called business impact analysis, and it identifies the period in which specific functions must be restored (e.g. 24 hours, 3 days, 1 week, 1 month). Once this is understood, the organization can begin developing the BCP to include plan activation procedures, internal and external communications, alternate facilities, and delegation of authority. The plan should also include employee and vendor contact lists for quick reference and be immediately available in the event of a disaster.

Practice Your Plan

After developing the BCP, remember to practice regularly, at least annually. A simulated disaster tabletop exercise is a good test for a BCP and can identify improvement opportunities for the overall plan.

The development of a BCP can be an overwhelming task. But it is an essential task. There are resources available. FEMA provides a Small Business Continuity Plan Template, which is available online: https://arlingtonva.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/COOP-Template-Business-Continuity.pdf

The SBA provides resources on how to get started on your BCP at
https://www.sba.gov/content/how-do-you-get-started-your-business-continuity-plan-0

Mars Bank’s commercial banking team wants your business to succeed! Contact us with your questions about your business and financial questions. C0ntact us through our website secure form or by calling 724-625-1555 x250.

Request an Appointment

If you’d like to schedule an appointment for a call, Zoom, or in-person meeting, click here.

Miss Our Cybersecurity Summit for Business?

If you missed our informative lunch and learn about the current cyber landscape, how to protect your business, and what to do after an attack… please contact us to receive the follow up materials.

Now is the time to protect your business! Learn more.

Locate a Branch

image of google maps of Mars Bank launches

Online and Mobile Business Banking

If you’re a current online banking customer, click here to login. Enroll in online banking, click here.

Access our business banking app for Android or Apple by clicking here.

Beneficial Ownership 

Important Information for commercial customers.