What is business continuity management?

Business continuity management means looking at the risks to your business and taking steps to reduce or possibly eliminate the identified risks. For those risks that cannot be eliminated, a business continuity plan will be required to minimise the impact if the risk(s) occurred.

Disruptions can affect any organisation and no business is immune to their effects. These issues could be internal or external. Examples include:

• natural disasters such as flooding or snow

• utilities failure

• loss of staff, for example a pandemic

• industrial action, either internal or external

• loss of, or denial of, access to work premises

• loss of ICT technology

• suppliers or contractors going out of business

Every organisation, whether in the public or private sector, should review its activities and consider the threats it faces. Steps can then be made to plan and protect the business before any of these threats materialise. That way your organisation is significantly more likely to recover and return to ‘business as usual’. Any disruption to normal business activities can affect customer relationships and your reputation.

More information is available from Staffordshire Prepared.