If your office or production plant became the target of a drone attack at 3 PM, would your employees know where to evacuate, and would you know how quickly you could resurrect your operations afterwards?

Every company typically has an insurance policy because it is an absolute foundation for any business. It protects the company against financial claims from third parties (clients, contractors, bystanders) in connection with various damages, whether Personal or Material, and in some cases, financial.

However, the policy will not restore our business operations, recover lost data, or persuade customers to return if our company fails to cope with a crisis situation. An insurance policy is not enough to sleep soundly; a BCP plan is needed for that.

The BCP Plan, or Business Continuity Plan

To prepare for crisis situations and minimize their negative impact, a solid BCP plan (Business Continuity Planning) is necessary. The Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is a formal and documented set of procedures, actions, and information aimed at ensuring the uninterrupted functioning of the company's key business processes or their fastest possible resumption in the face of serious disruptions, crises, or disasters.

It is a specific "Plan B" that is intended to guarantee that the company survives a serious incident (e.g., fire, flood, cyber attack, failure of a key IT system, sudden loss of a supplier) and maintains the delivery of its most important products or services.

Companies usually have fire evacuation plans resulting from occupational health and safety (EHS) procedures and concern for people, but do they care about the durability of our business after such a fire? Do traditional evacuation plans include a scenario for evacuation during a drone attack?

What about other threats? Are we operationally prepared for a planned hacker attack, a blackout, or a drone attack? Do we know how many people will disappear from work in the event of widespread military mobilization? Do our people know what to do and how to protect themselves and our business?

This is the purpose of BCP plans—to be prepared for scenarios that no one wishes for, but if they happen, instead of panicking, we will act in an orderly and planned manne. This will allow us to focus on specific actions in a crisis situation and minimize the effect of the crisis on people and the business.

What are the main elements of an effective BCP plan?

An effective BCP plan is a cyclical process and consists of several fundamental elements:

1. Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

This is the foundation of the entire plan. It involves:

• Identification of critical processes: Determining which processes are absolutely essential for the company's survival (e.g., issuing invoices, customer service, main product manufacturing).
• Determining tolerated downtime: Establishing key indicators:
  • RTO (Recovery Time Objective): The maximum acceptable time in which a critical process must be restored to operation after a failure.
  • RPO (Recovery Point Objective): The maximum acceptable level of data loss (how old the data we lost due to the failure can be).
• Impact assessment: Determining the financial and reputational losses for the company depending on the length of the downtime.

2. Risk Assessment

This involves identifying potential threats and their probability that could disrupt critical processes:

• Natural threats: Fire, flood, hurricane.
• Technical threats: Equipment failure, power loss, human error.
• External/malicious threats: Cyberattacks (ransomware), theft, terrorist attacks, acts of war.
• Operational threats: Loss of a key supplier, staff shortages.

3. Business Continuity Strategy

Based on the BIA and Risk Assessment, the ways in which critical processes will be continued are defined:

• Emergency strategies for IT (DRP - Disaster Recovery Plan): Choosing system restoration methods (e.g., backup data center, cloud, data replication).
• Strategies for personnel: Emergency work access plan (remote work, alternative office/location).
• Strategies for processes/supplies: Alternative methods for performing critical tasks without access to main resources, a plan for obtaining backup suppliers.

4. Crisis Response and Incident Management Plan

A detailed description of the actions to be taken at the first moment of an incident:

• Appointment of a Crisis Team: Defining roles, responsibilities, and decision-making authority.
• Escalation Procedure: Who informs whom about the incident, and at what stage.
• Communication Plan: Internal (employees) and external (customers, media, regulators).

5. Recovery Plan

Detailed, step-by-step procedures aimed at returning to a normal operational state after the crisis is contained. This includes:

• The sequence of restoring IT systems (from critical to less critical).
• Procedures for personnel return to the main location.
• Data recovery and verification (according to RPO).

6. Testing, Maintenance, and Audit

The BCP plan must be a living document.

• Testing: Regular (at least once a year) practical testing of procedures (e.g., failure simulation, evacuation).
• Update: Updating the plan in case of changes in the organization (new systems, new location, change in structure) or after conducting tests.
• Training: Training personnel so that everyone knows their role in a crisis situation.

Having a BCP is not only a good practice, but in many industries (finance, energy, telecommunications), it is a legal obligation (e.g., resulting from the DORA, NIS2 directives in the EU).

For me, the BCP plan is much more important than an insurance policy because it proactively prepares us to act in a crisis, caring for people and our business.

If you don't feel fully ready, I invite you to contact us, and our team of experts will help you prepare for crisis situations. Gain peace of mind knowing that your business will survive every storm.

Author: Agnieszka Orłowska, CEO, ESG Institute

Artykuły z tej kategorii

Join our mailing list and stay updated with the latest ESG news.

*By subscribing, you consent to the processing of your data for marketing purposes.

ESG Institute Sp. z o. o.

info@esginstitute.eu

Rondo ONZ 1,
00-124 Warszawa

Social media