[Email Template] Business Continuity Plan Compliance

The email is a notification of the company’s business continuity plan (BCP) and a reminder to employees to comply with the plan.

The purpose of the email is to ensure that all employees are aware of the BCP and that they know what to do in the event of a business disruption.

The email is addressed to all employees.

The email is sent out as soon as possible after the BCP is updated.

The email is sent to the employee’s email address.

The email should include the following information:

* A brief overview of the company’s BCP. * A list of the steps that employees should take in the event of a business disruption. * Contact information for the BCP team.

The email should also be clear and concise, and it should be written in a professional tone.

Here is an example of an email on Business Continuity Plan Compliance:

Subject: Business Continuity Plan Compliance

Dear employees,

I am writing to you today to remind you of our company’s business continuity plan (BCP).

The BCP is a plan that outlines how our company will continue to operate in the event of a business disruption. This could be anything from a natural disaster to a cyberattack.

The BCP includes a list of the steps that employees should take in the event of a business disruption. These steps may include:

* Working from home * Communicating with other employees * Continuing to provide customer service

I urge you to review the BCP and to familiarize yourself with the steps that you should take. Your cooperation is essential to our success in the event of a business disruption.

The BCP is available on the company intranet. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the BCP team.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely, [Your name]

Here are some additional tips for writing an email about business continuity plan compliance:

* Use a clear and concise subject line that accurately reflects the content of the email. * Provide a brief overview of the company’s BCP. * List the steps that employees should take in the event of a business disruption. * Provide contact information for the BCP team. * Be professional and respectful in your tone.

By following these tips, you can help to ensure that your email about business continuity plan compliance is clear, concise, and professional.

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  • Communicating Your Business Continuity Plan: …
  • Communicating Your Business Continuity Plan: Public Or Private? A Disaster Recovery Report

May 4, 2021 by Siobhan Climer and Eric White

This article was originally published May 2020. 

The business continuity plan has always been essential. Last year, many businesses found first hand the impact strategic disaster recovery programming and business continuity planning can have during a crisis. 

communicating your business continuity plan

One question that has recently come to light is what level of transparency a business continuity plan should offer . As companies begin to develop hybrid work solutions and IT  evolve, businesses should begin to adapt their plans. This brings up several other questions: 

Who is responsible for creating and implementing a business continuity plan?

Whose role is it to communicate the business continuity plan.

  • Is it something you communicate to all internal employees?

Is there a risk to sharing your business continuity plan details? 

Do you publish your business continuity plan publicly – on your website, for example.

Let’s break down these questions one by one to better understand the importance of communication in successful business continuity planning. 

communicating your business continuity plan

In mid-market and enterprise organizations, a Business Continuity Coordinator (BCC) is responsible for creating, testing, and implementing a business continuity plan. They must:

  • Understand how to work across potentially dozens of departments and stakeholders to identify mission-critical operations. 
  • Document, test, and refine business continuity plan processes to ensure the BCP is regularly updated and functional. 
  • Communicate the business continuity plan details internally and ensure smooth implementation if (and when) the plan becomes operational. 

However, not every organization has a BCC. In many companies, the responsibilities of the BCC are split between leadership and technology teams. Leadership communicates the plan and the IT teams facilitate the implementation of the business continuity plan . 

In an ideal situation? The BCC and CEO/COO would coordinate communication of the business continuity plan during its many phases, up to and including implementation. 

Reality is far more complicated. The responsibility of communication falls to many different departments.

IT teams often carry the brunt of communicating actionable intelligence, from how to modify functional processes in new circumstances to ensuring data security, accessibility, and portability. 

communicating your business continuity plan

Should you communicate the business continuity plan to all internal employees?

Yes, at least elements of it. Communication is the beginning and ending of strategic business continuity planning. A BCP needs to address all employees, and – therefore – all employees should be aware of its existence. Certainly, the level of granular detail and responsibility varies; regardless, all employees need to have a basic understanding of their roles and responsibilities during a disaster event.

communicating your business continuity plan

Yes. Sharing business intelligence has inherent risks and you should not share the full business continuity plan with just anyone – even trusted department leaders. In many cases, the BCC will maintain a master business continuity plan document – that houses possible scenarios, individual and departmental responsibilities, and crucial information – such as vendor contact details, mission-critical data access credentials, and disaster-scenario plans. 

For a competitor or malicious entity, that information could be incredibly valuable. This data should be carefully monitored and protected. Make sure all employees have the information they need to successfully implement your BCP. And make sure you’ve made sure with business continuity plan testing. 

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A strong business continuity plan can send a strong message to your customers and clients. People want to work with an organization that is transparent and prepared, and a business continuity plan demonstrates just this. 

Instead of simply publishing your BCP in full on your website, or even sharing it with potential clients or vendors, we recommend the following:

communicating your business continuity plan

Offer business continuity plan FAQs. This is a far more user-friendly way to approach communication and business continuity planning. Identify and answer a list of questions for what you and your clients should do during specific situations. 

Put communication and compassion front and center. Instead of putting together a piece of collateral that may or may not be effective, make sure your clients know what to do if they need to reach you. Give clients reliable contact information. Give them peace of mind. 

Communicating Your Business Continuity Plan Matters

Your business is unique, and the details of your business continuity plan – and the specifics around communication and implementation – are equally individual. Yet communication is vital to every strategic business continuity plan, whether it is for a boutique pet groomer or multi-national SaaS-provider. 

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Ensure your employees and clients know what to do during a crisis event with comprehensive disaster recovery programming and business continuity planning. Our team are experts in matching business continuity planning to technology, ensuring that during disasters your infrastructure and systems continue to deliver what is needed. 

You can find out more about protecting your data at our virtual webinar on May 18th.

Q2 2021 DR Event

Contact us today to discuss communicating your business continuity plan. 

About Mindsight

Mindsight is industry recognized for delivering secure IT solutions and thought leadership that address your infrastructure and communications needs. Our engineers are expert level only – and they’re known as the most respected and valued engineering team based in Chicago, serving emerging to enterprise organizations around the globe. That’s why clients trust Mindsight as an extension of their IT team.

Visit us at http://www.gomindsight.com .

About The Authors

Eric White is Chief Technology Officer and VP of Consulting Services at Mindsight. With over ten years of experience in information technology and leadership, Eric excels at implementing network and data center technologies, designing high-yield solutions for the business. Holding professional certifications from Microsoft, VMware, and EMC, as well as the Cisco CCNP, Eric is an expert at solving business realities with a client-centric focus that delivers.

Siobhan Climer writes about technology trends in education, healthcare, and business. With over a decade of experience communicating complex concepts around everything from cybersecurity to neuroscience, Siobhan is an expert at breaking down technical and scientific principles so that everyone takes away valuable insights. When she’s not writing tech, she’s reading and writing fantasy, hiking, and exploring the world with her twin daughters. 

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What Is A Business Continuity Plan? [+ Template & Examples]

Swetha Amaresan

Published: December 30, 2022

When a business crisis occurs, the last thing you want to do is panic.

executives discussing business continuity plan

The second-to-last thing you want to do is be unprepared. Crises typically arise without warning. While you shouldn't start every day expecting the worst, you should be relatively prepared for anything to happen.

A business crisis can cost your company a lot of money and ruin your reputation if you don't have a business continuity plan in place. Customers aren't very forgiving, especially when a crisis is influenced by accidents within the company or other preventable mistakes. If you want your company to be able to maintain its business continuity in the face of a crisis, then you'll need to come up with this type of plan to uphold its essential functions.

Free Download: Crisis Management Plan & Communication Templates

In this post, we'll explain what a business continuity plan is, give examples of scenarios that would require a business continuity plan, and provide a template that you can use to create a well-rounded program for your business.

Table of Contents:

What is a business continuity plan?

  • Business Continuity Types
  • Business Continuity vs Disaster Recovery

Business Continuity Plan Template

How to write a business continuity plan.

  • Business Continuity Examples

A business continuity plan outlines directions and procedures that your company will follow when faced with a crisis. These plans include business procedures, names of assets and partners, human resource functions, and other helpful information that can help maintain your brand's relationships with relevant stakeholders. The goal of a business continuity plan is to handle anything from minor disruptions to full-blown threats.

For example, one crisis that your business may have to respond to is a severe snowstorm. Your team may be wondering, "If a snowstorm disrupted our supply chain, how would we resume business?" Planning contingencies ahead of time for situations like these can help your business stay afloat when you're faced with an unavoidable crisis.

When you think about business continuity in terms of the essential functions your business requires to operate, you can begin to mitigate and plan for specific risks within those functions.

business continuity plan email to employees

Crisis Communication and Management Kit

Manage, plan for, and communicate during your corporate crises with these crisis management plan templates.

  • Free Crisis Management Plan Template
  • 12 Crisis Communication Templates
  • Post-Crisis Performance Grading Template
  • Additional Crisis Best Management Practices

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Business Continuity Planning

Business continuity planning is the process of creating a plan to address a crisis. When writing out a business continuity plan, it's important to consider the variety of crises that could potentially affect the company and prepare a resolution for each.

Business Continuity Plan

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How to craft an effective business continuity plan

business continuity plan email to employees

Let me take you back in time to the United Kingdom in the 1970s. Punk music was gaining popularity, and the Sex Pistols entered the punk rock scene with the force of a shooting star, capturing fans’ attention.

How To Craft An Effective Business Continuity Plan

But as quickly as they arrived, they quickly left the scene. When they broke up in 1978 after a period of internal conflicts, legal troubles, and their frontman’s imprisonment, fans were left both shocked and surprised.

Just like the Sex Pistols, plenty of companies experience rapid growth and success, only to face unexpected challenges and internal conflicts that result in their downfall.

In this article, we’ll draw inspiration from the Sex Pistols’ turbulent journey to explore the concept of business continuity planning (BCP). We’ll look at what a BCP is, why you need one and delve into the strategies and contingency measures that can help you maintain your rhythm and continuity, even when faced with the inevitable storms that can disrupt your operations.

What is a business continuity plan?

A business continuity plan describes how you’ll continue your business when disaster hits. It is a structured strategy outlining how your organization will maintain essential functions when disaster strikes, to ensure minimal downtime and guarantee that operations continue.

Why do you need a BCP in place?

The BCP is crucial and revolves around ensuring your resilience and ability to continue operating in the face of unexpected disruptions, such as natural disasters, cyberattacks, or other emergencies.

Let’s look at it a bit closer, and understand some of the key reasons to have a BCP better:

Minimize downtime

Protect revenue and reputation, compliance and legal requirements, resource allocation, maintain customer service, employee safety.

A BCP helps you minimize downtime. It does this by providing a structured approach to quickly recover and resume your critical business functions.

Example: You’re a retail company with an extensive online presence. If your website experiences a cyberattack that takes it offline, a well-prepared BCP outlines the steps to take to mitigate the attack, get your website back up in no time, and allow you to continue serving your customers.

No one likes disruptions as they result in revenue loss and can damage your reputation. A BCP helps you protect against financial losses and keep customer trust.

Example: You’re the owner of a restaurant chain with multiple locations and one of your branches has a food safety crisis. A BCP can guide you in managing the crisis, ensuring food safety compliance, and communicating effectively with customers to maintain trust in the brand and other locations.

Some industries, like the financial, and pharma industries, have regulatory requirements that mandate businesses to have BCPs in place. Failure to do so has legal and financial consequences.

Example: You’re the owner of a FinTech company. You are required by regulators to have robust BCPs to ensure customer data security and financial system stability.

When a crisis hits you need the right resources to get you back up and running. A BCP helps allocate resources effectively during a crisis, ensuring that personnel, equipment, and materials are used efficiently to address the most critical needs.

business continuity plan email to employees

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Example: You’re a manufacturing company hit by a sudden supply chain disruption because the Suez Canal is blocked again. You use your BCP to allocate available resources to meet customer demands and minimize production delays.

When all hell breaks loose you want to make sure customer experience takes a minimum blow. A BCP outlines measures to maintain customer service and communication, so customers receive timely updates and support.

Example: You run an airline and there is a labor strike. Your BCP tells you how to manage customer inquiries, rebook affected passengers, and maintain a level of service.

Let’s not forget about the well-being of your employees. During a crisis, this is a top priority. A BCP includes procedures for evacuations, remote work arrangements, and employee support.

Example: There is a fire at your workplace. The BCP outlines evacuation routes, assembly points, and contact information for employees to report their safety status.

Business continuity planning: Steps for success

That’s a lot of reasons, right? Now that we addressed the necessity and urgency of having BCP, let’s look at 5 steps to creating a successful one:

  • Analyze your company
  • Assess the risk
  • Create the procedures
  • Get the word out
  • Iterate and improve

1. Analyze your company

In this phase you conduct an analysis to identify critical activities, determine which activities must continue, which can be temporarily paused, and which can operate at a reduced capacity.

You then assess the financial impact of disruptions. This involves asking yourself the question, “How long can I operate without generating revenue and incurring recovery costs?”

As this step covers your whole company, it’s important to get key stakeholders involved from the beginning.

2. Assess the risk

Now you have a good overview of your critical processes and the impact of disruption. At this point, pivot your attention to the risks they face, how well you can handle when things don’t work as usual, and how long you can manage if things go wrong.

The goal here is to understand what could go wrong and find ways to avoid, reduce, or transfer them. This assessment will help you strengthen your preparedness and resilience.

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Think about risks specific to your industry and location

It’s important to consider both internal (e.g. an IT system failure or employee shortage) and external threats (e.g. a natural disaster or supply chain disruption) to your critical business activities.

3. Create the procedures

Once you analyze and assess, you need to create procedures.

Develop detailed, step-by-step procedures to minimize risks to your organization’s people, operations, and assets. This can include changes to your operating model, such as using alternative suppliers or implementing remote work options.

4. Get the word out

A plan is just a plan and no one will know how to act if you don’t communicate.

This step is all about communication. Integrate the BCP into your operations, policies, and company culture, and train, test, and communicate with your employees.

And don’t forget that communication is not limited to your company only. Communicate with external stakeholders, customers, suppliers, and so forth.

5. Iterate and improve

Before implementing your BCP ensure its effectiveness.

Don’t worry there are plenty more options to test your BCP. Consider involving external stakeholders or vendors as it makes exercises more realistic. Frequently train those who are accountable for executing the BCP.

After experiencing a real incident or conducting a training exercise, update your plan to improve its ability to protect your business. Keep in mind that both your organization’s development and the circumstances you operate in change, so a regular review isn’t a luxury but a necessity.

How to structure your continuity plan

Now you have a high-level understanding, let’s look at how to structure your business continuity plan.

You can find a copy of the template I use here .

Make sure to include the following sections in your BCP:

Version history

Executive summary, functions and process prioritization, plan activation, governance and responsibilities, recovery plans, crisis communication plan, emergency location and contents, review and testing.

This section shows the revision history. It includes the version numbers of the changes made, by whom, when, and who approved the changes. The revision history allows anyone reading the BCP to understand how it has evolved over time.

The executive summary provides a brief summary of the key objectives, goals, scope, and applicability of the BCP.

This chapter outlines the critical functions and processes in scope of continuation in case of a disastrous event.

This section refers to the risk and business impact assessment outcome. Its aim is to set out what triggers the activation of the plan.

Governance and responsibilities talks about who has to act when the BCP is activated. It includes the members, a description of their responsibilities, contact details of the BCP team, and the chain of command during a crisis.

This section builds upon the business continuity strategies, specifically the one chosen when a disaster occurs. It describes the detailed recovery plans for each critical function, the procedures for restarting operations, resource allocation, and recovery time objectives (RTOs).

Here you cover the internal and external communication strategies. You also address employee awareness and training activities.

Now there is a good chance the disaster will require your crucial activities to temporarily continue at a different location. This section covers all details about the location and what needs to be available at the location.

The BCP is to be tested to reduce the risk of missing things or even worse failing. Here jot down the testing procedures and document results and lessons learned.

This section includes all appendices. Think about the following

  • Supporting documents, such as contact lists, maps, and technical specifications
  • References to external standards, guidelines, or regulations
  • Training programs for BCP team members
  • Review of insurance policies
  • Financial reserves and funding for recovery efforts
  • Procedures for keeping the BCP documentation up to date

Business continuity plan example

Earlier this year, the Koninklijke Nederlands Voetbal Bond (KNVB), which is the Royal Dutch Football Association, was hit by ransomware. The cyberattackers threatened to share personally identifiable information captured and the KNVB paid over one million euros to avoid this from happening.

What could have been done to mitigate the ransomware attack risk?

The Risk of the attack to succeed could have been mitigated with:

  • Regular data backups
  • Segmentation of networks
  • Intrusion detection systems

How to ensure business continuity in case of ransomware?

In response to the ransomware incident, and to allow for continued business as usual as soon as possible, steps could include:

  • Isolating affected systems
  • Activating backups
  • Notifying law enforcement
  • Engaging with a cybersecurity incident response team

Key takeaways

A business continuity plan (BCP) is like a safety net for your business when things go haywire. It helps you keep going, avoiding downtime, revenue loss, and reputation hits. On top of that, it’s a legal must in certain industries.

To make a solid BCP, just follow five steps: figure out what’s crucial for your business, spot the risks, plan how to bounce back, make sure everyone knows the plan, and keep fine-tuning it.

Structurally, your BCP should have sections like history, a quick guide, what’s most important, when to activate it, who’s in charge, the nitty-gritty recovery plans, how communication is done, where to go in a crisis, how to test the BCP works, and some extra info.

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A step-by-step guide to writing an effective business continuity plan.

Posted Aug 30, 2022

What is a business continuity plan?

A business continuity plan is a written document that describes the emergency procedures that should happen if a business-critical process fails.

Several sources can threaten businesses. Sometimes, disruption can take the form of Force Majeure circumstances, like extreme weather or political unrest. Other circumstances are less obvious, but just as disruptive: supply chain issues, web server downtime or power outages can leave permanent damage to a business’s finances after a certain amount of time.

Businesses must prevent unwanted downtime to ensure critical functions and services aren’t affected. The best way to ensure a consistent and effective response to potential issues is to implement a robust, documented business continuity plan.

Learn more with our in-depth guide to business continuity.

What is the purpose of a business continuity plan?

A strategically structured and rehearsed business continuity plan provides a number of benefits to both employees and the company itself.

With improvements to communication, technology and resilience, here are a number of examples of the positives that you can expect from a business continuity plan:

Helps your business to survive a disruptive event — Ensuring you have a robust plan in place will enable your business to recover in the shortest possible timeframe from an incident.

Protect your organisation’s reputation and brand — Whether it’s in the eyes of the public, suppliers and/or clients you work with, showing that you can respond well to the unexpected will instil confidence in your business and help to mitigate any negative feelings due to disruptions.

Strengthen your relationship with third parties and subsidiaries — With an effective business continuity plan, you’ll demonstrate that your company is being run well from the top down. By showing that you’re a reliable partner that can be depended on, you’ll attract new business and solidify your relationship with current clients and service providers.

Ensure staff safety — The well-being of your employees is a natural factor in a business continuity plan. By ensuring your team is looked after and knows what the procedure is during disruptions, you can establish clear roles and responsibilities to keep everyone under your care safe in an emergency.

Meet regulatory standards — Globally, there are corporate governance regulations that require directors and key stakeholders to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence to mitigate risks facing an organisation. With an effective business continuity plan in place, you can ensure you’re meeting the requirements of a growing body of legislation.

What does a good business continuity plan look like?

The three key elements of a business continuity plan are:

1. Resilience

Businesses can increase their resilience by designing critical functions and infrastructures to protect against specific scenarios. Examples include; data redundancy, staffing rotations and maintaining a surplus of capacity. If implemented efficiently, resilience in business continuity can even keep essential services running on-site or remotely without interruption to daily operations.

2. Recovery

There’s no way an organisation can prepare for every eventuality. But with rapid recovery, you can future-proof your business by ensuring you have strategies in place to restore business functions in an emergency. With recovery time objectives for different systems, you can analyse and prioritise which needs recovering first.

3. Contingency

A contingency plan ensures that an organisation has procedures in place to distribute and delegate responsibilities for a range of external scenarios. These can include replacing hardware, sourcing an emergency workspace and contracting third-party vendors for assistance.

Who is responsible for a business continuity plan?

To ensure your organisation’s readiness, it’s important to designate who will be responsible for implementing and managing your business continuity plan. For small businesses, a single individual could be tasked with writing a business continuity plan. Or for larger organisations, a whole team could be involved with developing a business continuity plan.

In such cases, business unit leaders — such as payroll, corporate travel, human resources and security — will be given the responsibility of creating their respective unit’s business continuity plan with a program manager overseeing the process.

It is essential to make sure each person understanding their responsibilities and that there are clear lines of communication between employees and external stakeholders, in order to keep everything as smooth as possible during an disruptive scenario.

What is the first step in writing a business continuity plan?

The first step you should take when preparing to write a business continuity plan is to conduct a full Business Impact Assessment (BIA).

A BIA predicts the consequences of a significant disruption to your business processes. It clarifies the potential losses that could be incurred in each circumstance.

A BIA should include the following:

Potential losses — What would your lost sales and income look like for each hour of downtime, or each day?

Delayed sales — Could disruption create cash flow issues for you by delaying your sales or income? If so, to what extent? What lines of credit would you have to rely on?

Increased expenses — How much would you have to spend on resources to mitigate the issue? Think about things like overtime, outsourcing, and costs associated with expediting business-critical activities.

Regulatory fines — How much could you be fined by regulators for breaches to things like data privacy or health and safety?

Contractual penalties — Are there any charges you could incur for failing to meet SLAs with your business partners?

Customer satisfaction — How much damage to your public reputation could a disruption have? You can quantify by thinking of the number of additional negative reviews you could receive for each day of delays.

Delay of new business plans — Would you need to push back any planned launches or new business agreements while you deal with disruptions?

Writing your plan: Step-by-step instructions

Identify your business-critical processes — Critical business processes are those necessary for the survival of the company in the case of loss of revenue, customer service interruption or reputation damage. E.g. Manufacturing — what you would need to keep your production line going. Finance — how to recover important documents that contain sensitive information. IT — is home working feasible for your business?

Specify the target recovery time for these processes — How long would it take for the loss of a business-critical process to do irreparable damage to your business? Your target recovery time for each process you identified should be within this window. Determine how long you could tolerate a disruption: this is known as a recovery time objective (RTO). Your business continuity plan should enable you to mitigate disruptions within this time window.

Define the specific resources needed for each process — Once you’ve identified how long you’ll need to restore a process, you’ll need to outline everything you’ll need to do so, and plan within that time frame. You could split this into internal resources (key people in your organisation, passwords, office space, specialist equipment) and external resources (e.g. supplies, transportation). Along with identifying how readily available they can be, and for how long you’ll need them.

Describe the steps needed to restore each process — If your business is disrupted by an IT failure, fire, flood or an extreme weather event, what is your plan to address this? Devise a backup plan for each key operation you have, detailing who to contact, what resources you’ll need, and how much you might need to spend in order to restore each process.

Decide on a schedule to update the information — Once you’ve compiled the above 4 points, you’ll have a strong business continuity plan that you can action. But it won’t be bulletproof forever. As your business evolves, so will the technology it uses and the relationships it has. Therefore, you need to plan ways to keep the information up-to-date. It might be that you decide on a regular date that the whole plan needs to be revisited, whether that’s yearly, quarterly or even monthly. Alternatively, you might decide it’s better to update small elements of the plan as and when they change: e.g. if a password to a critical folder is changed, there’s someone in your organisation who is responsible for updating your business continuity plan accordingly.

What are the four P’s of business continuity planning?

The four P’s of business continuity are:

People — This covers your staff, customers and clients.

Processes — This includes the technology and strategies your business uses to keep everything running.

Premises — Covers the buildings and spaces from which your business operates.

Providers — This includes parties that your business relies on for getting resources, like your suppliers and partners.

You can use the four P’s when reviewing the initial draft of your business continuity plan to ensure you’ve considered the impact on each of them at every stage.

For example, how might your plan to recover important documents out of working hours impact your staff? How hard would it be to access the premises? When should you notify your clients and business partners?

What is the most important part of a business continuity plan?

Every element of your business continuity plan is important, but perhaps the most critical part to get right is how you plan to respond to potential issues. It’s advantageous to have precise calculations about potential losses and the impact of your business relationships, but without a clear and effective way of reacting to disruptions, your business will incur serious — and sometimes irreparable — financial damage.

Business continuity plan template

We’ve prepared an example business continuity plan to get you started.

1. Objective of the plan

Open with a short summary of the ‘why’ behind the how. Explain clearly and succinctly that the aim of your business continuity plan is to protect your business in the event of a disruption to business-critical processes.

2. Business-critical processes checklist

Your plan will need to contain a list of its most important processes. Below are a few examples:

3. Recovery plan

For each critical function you listed in step (2), you’ll need to specify a comprehensive, tailored recovery plan that should be followed in order to get the process back up and running within your RTO.

4. Contact list

Create lists of staff, suppliers and insurers that should be contacted in case of an emergency.

List of key staff: example

Supplier list: example

List of insurers: example

Ensure your business continuity

If you want to protect your business against all eventualities, putting in place reliable business continuity plans is a crucial step.

CMAC specialises in providing emergency assistance to businesses experiencing transport disruptions to keep things running smoothly and minimise potential losses. Learn more about CMAC’s full suite of industry-leading recovery solutions , from ground transport to emergency accommodation.

Other useful guides

What is Business Continuity and why is it important for your business? | CMAC Group

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Effectively communicating your business continuity.

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Jenna Paton

Mar. 19, 2020

5 min. read

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What is business continuity?

Business continuity is about building a resilient framework that enables businesses to respond effectively at times of crisis or uncertainty. Rather than ‘firefighting’ in emergency situations, brands can return to business as usual (BAU) quickly and helps build confidence. By safeguarding the interests of key business stakeholders, brand reputation, and value-generating activities, staff, customers, and suppliers will be reassured that you can manage the unexpected.

How to communicate your plan?

Key to keeping confidence in your brand is how you communicate during uncertain times. When done right this can actually help grow awareness and boost your brand reputation.

As part of your continuity planning, you need to identify your key audiences. Most brands will be talking to employees, customers, suppliers, stakeholders, and more. Knowing how, when, and why you’re talking to each group will significantly help the effectiveness of your plan.

Choosing the right channel

Modern communication has developed far beyond the solitary email. Cross-channel automation platforms such as Dotdigital offer brands an extensive range of communication channels. But they’re still being under-utilized. During periods of uncertainty when your business continuity plan comes into action, these additional channels will be vital to reach and maintain contact with your key stakeholders.

Choosing the right channel

Email is one of the furthest reaching channels accessible to brands. With nearly 4 billion email users around the world, email is an integral part of daily online life.

There are over 4.5 billion mobile phones in the world and that number just keeps growing. SMS as a communication channel for brands has a 98% read rate, so it must be seriously considered during a crisis.

Internet access is a luxury many of us take for granted nowadays. But it has also helped us get unprecedented access to brands and people around the world. Living in the globalized and interconnected world we’re in today, live chat is an increasingly in-demand channel.

Mobile apps

Of the 4.5 billion phones in the world today, over 3 billion of them are smartphones capable of hosting mobile apps. With the always-on mentality growing around the globe push notifications are a channel just waiting to be tapped into.

Social media

With 3.5 billion social media users worldwide, brands using social media properly and efficiently in times of uncertainty are guaranteed to make an impact. Reaching customers on their favorite social media platform is also going to have a positive effect on their opinion of a brand.

Talking to employees

When the decision is made to enact your business continuity plan, the first group you need to communicate to are your employees.

Whether you’re a small office or spread across the state, country, or even the world, staff need to be fully informed about what’s happening. This is made even more important when remote working is required of your staff.

Alerts and situation updates

For times when you need information shared immediately, you’ll find no better channel than SMS. Broadcast SMS allows you to deliver messages to all staff in over 150 countries.

Safety and wellbeing check-ups

Keep an eye on the safety and wellbeing of your employees with surveys. You can do this throughout your whole business continuity plan by automating these check-ins at regular intervals.

Communicating with key stakeholders

No matter the size of your business, there will be key stakeholders who need to be informed about potential changes to your daily work as you maintain BAU. These could be investors, suppliers, or distributors. Whoever they are, you need to carefully plan your communications.

Consider what they need to know, when they need to know it by, and how best to get these messages to them.

Continuity updates

Planning regular news updates for your stakeholders is a great way to keep them engaged. The success of this lies in your email marketing tactics.

Segmentation is going to be key. After all, your suppliers aren’t going to need to know all the information you need to share with investors. Dynamic content will help you ensure the only the relevant information is being sent to the right target audience.

Keeping customers updated

During times of business continuity, keeping customer confidence in your brand is going to make a huge difference to the success of your plan.

Broadcast comms

Putting a continuity plan into action will be an unprecedented situation for most brands. It’ll also be a highly unusual position for most of your customers. Keeping them informed about any changes to your business demonstrates your brand integrity in their eyes. Sending a broadcast from your CEO is a great way to improve trust and confidence and can be personalized for more impact.

Two-way conversations

Put customers’ minds at ease quickly and efficiently by introducing live chat to your website. This is going to be particularly effective if you’re an ecommerce brand and have had to close the doors of your brick-and-mortar stores.

Changes to events and activities

As you try to maintain BAU during troubling times, you may be required to change or cancel events or activities you’d organized for your customers. Make sure they’re well informed with plenty of notice with an impactful SMS.

Reassurances

Sending comforting reassurances directly into the palm of the customer’s hand can be achieved with a personalized push notification. With mobile devices never far from reach, remind customers that you’re still around and working hard to meet their needs.

What to say and when

These are just a few use-case examples. No one knows your customers, employees, or stakeholders as well as you do. You need to carefully consider which channel will have the greatest success with your audience.

What you say and when you say it will be an ongoing challenge during unpredictable times. Only you can make these decisions. But how you say it will make all the difference to your customers.

  • Be empathetic

Remember that your readers may be as scared, worried, or confused about the situation as you are.

Recent events have provided some amazing examples of brands focusing on their communities. They’ve been speaking to customers honestly as situations change. Focusing on the humans involved rather than the products or services they provide.

Another Space business continuity email

Before you reach out, run through these questions to determine whether it is a message that needs to be sent:

  • Can I segment my audience? Whether you’re a big or a small organization, your database will interact with you differently. You will have more impact if you take this into consideration.
  • Do I need to say this now? How time-sensitive is the message I want to send? Can I send it later?
  • Does this information impact the reader? Will it affect the way they use our services or products? If they haven’t interacted with us for a while, do they need to know?
  • Are people relying on me for answers? Considering our industry and the concerns affecting the public, are we providing them with the information they need now?
  • Is there a risk in sending this? If it doesn’t have the impact I want, could it lead to unsubscribes, complaints or being marked as spam?

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Business Continuity Planning & Management

What is business continuity.

Business continuity is the ability for an organzation to continue to be productive during a disruptive incident. Business continuity is not only refers to the ability for organizations to continue to produce products and services, but it also refers to the ability for employees to continue to be productive during a disruptive period.

In today's age, email is the backbone of business collaboration and productivity. Mimecast Mailbox Continuity provides simple, cost-effective protection against downtime events, including outages, maintenance, data migration & more.

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What are the three challenges of business continuity?

Email data loss is a risk that every business could face. In fact, nearly all organizations has faced some sort of outage, and without a solution to prevent loss of email, attachments, and calendars, the risk to compliance is even greater. Secondly, Office 365 has limitations; legacy backup solutions are costly and difficult to manage. A better solution leverages your archive data to streamline data backup and recovery. Finally, slow search in business continuity can hamper IT employees and prevent them from getting back to keeping your organization cyber secure.

What is business continuity planning?

Business continuity planning protects against planned and unplanned email server outages without the cost and complexity of alternatives. Organizations of all sizes are implementing business continuity plans to ensure employees always have access to crucial email data, keeping employees online and reducing disruptions in productivity. 

Why is business continuity planning important?

As organizations move messaging to the cloud, gaps in email protection often emerge, risking data loss and corruption and endangering compliance, continuity and competitiveness. Business continuity solutions can integrate archive, data backup and recovery to offer true protection, helping you resist and rapidly recover from data loss or corruption.

Email access is critical to business continuity management

Of all the aspects of business continuity management, ensuring access to email during a planned or unplanned outage must be a top priority.

That’s why, when planning for business continuity management, email disaster recovery must be a huge part of the conversation. Organizations around the globe are turning to Mimecast Mailbox Continuity solutions to keep email flowing and support business continuity management. 

When your business can't afford email downtime, superior business continuity services from Mimecast can help to provide uninterrupted access to live in historic emails, even when primary email servers are down.

Email is indispensable to business. Employees rely on email virtually every waking our, and business communication quickly grinds to a halt when email servers go down. That's why email systems are often the primary target for cyber criminals seeking to wreak havoc or penetrate corporate defenses. It's also why more organizations today turn to business continuity services from Mimecast to make downtime a thing of the past.

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Archiving with business continuity management solutions from Mimecast

Mimecast provides a cloud-based subscription service that delivers all-in-one solutions for email continuity, archiving and security. From best-of-breed protection from targeted threats to easy-to-manage Office 365 compliance archiving , Mimecast provides the tools to simplify all aspects of protecting and managing business email. 

For business continuity management, Mimecast Mailbox Continuity ensures that users have access to email during an outage, an Office 365 outage or planned downtime — without requiring significant capital investments or managing complex redundant systems. 

Mimecast provides uninterrupted access to live and historic email attachments using everyday tools like Outlook for Windows. Employees may continue to send and receive messages on any device from any location. Mimecast’s 100% service availability SLA ensures that business continuity management professionals won’t need to worry about email during a disaster.

Business continuity services from Mimecast

Mimecast offers business continuity services as part of an all-in-one subscription service for email continuity, email retention, email security and data backup and recovery . Mimecast Mailbox Continuity provide simple, cost-effective protection against downtime events, including natural disasters, data migration , cloud outages, system failure and planned maintenance. 

Mimecast business continuity services monitor inbound and outbound email from on-premises servers or cloud-based services like Office 365. When a downtime event occurs, administrators can quickly reroute email through the Mimecast Platform, making Mimecast the primary email path. Internal email is captured and retained through journaling, while folders and calendars are replicated and most-used contacts are synced to enable business to operate as usual. Users can access email through Outlook, mobile, web and Mac apps that offer fully functional email capabilities, including access to distribution lists. In addition to continuing to receive live email, users have full access to historical archives through the Mimecast Cloud Archive option, increasing productivity and ensuring archiving compliance . 

Business continuity services from Mimecast help to simplify management of downtime events with tools to monitor, alert and manage inbound and outbound email disruptions. Administrators can rapidly trigger continuity events, while automatic mailbox synchronization lets administrators avoid wasting time on cleanup tasks.

Key features of an effective Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

In the event of a sudden email outage or planned downtime, business continuity should provide uninterrupted access to live and historic email and attachments using everyday tools like Outlook for Windows, the web, and mobile applications. Employees should get guaranteed access to email — from anywhere, on any device. And administrators need to be able to monitor email flow, receive alerts, and manage a business continuity event An effective business continuity plan encompasses backup, overflow and repetitive technology solutions. For example, during the pandemic, video conferencing solutions are mission critical and if it fails to operate as normal, one or more other video conferencing or collaboration solutions should be at the ready.

Steps to create a business continuity plan

To create a business continuity plan, CISOs must organize a management team to identify key business areas, critical functions, and to determine how to keep communication moving in the event of planned or unplanned downtime.

Benefits of Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

Mimecast supports business continuity management by providing: 

  • A seamless end user experience. When email servers or network infrastructure goes down, users can continue to send and receive email from familiar devices. 
  • Instant failover and fail back to reduce RPO and RTO for email to nearly zero. 
  • Automatic synchronization of mailboxes after a failover event to reduce confusion without placing additional strain on IT teams. 
  • Central management of continuity events from a single, web-based console. 
  • A solution that deploys quickly with no hardware or software to purchase, reducing cost and lowering IT overhead. 

Learn more about Mimecast solutions for business continuity management, as well as Mimecast data leakage prevention and Outlook email archiving solutions . 

Mimecast business continuity services provide: 

  • 100% service availability SLA. 
  • Uninterrupted access to all live and historic email and calendar information. 
  • Management of downtime events for on-premises, cloud and hybrid email systems. 
  • Instant failover and failback, reducing RPO and RTO for email to near zero. 
  • Automatic synchronization of mailboxes after downtime events have been resolved, to prevent confusion without requiring intervention from IT. 
  • SMS continuity alerts to ensure fast communication between IT and end users. 
  • A cloud-based solution with no hardware or software to install, maintain or upgrade. 

Learn more about business continuity services from Mimecast, and about Mimecast solutions for file recovery and for managing email retention requirements .

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What Is a Business Continuity Plan? What to Expect From the Process

What Is a Business Continuity Plan? What to Expect From the Process

Your business shouldn’t shut down when an emergency hits. But with a thorough business continuity plan template, you can keep your people safe and stay operational through whatever crisis you’re hit with.

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  • What Is a Business Continuity Plan?
  • What to Include in Your BCP

What to Expect from a Business Continuity Template

  • 5 Steps to Creating a BCP

Making sure you can protect your employees and operations is a complicated issue, especially the larger and more widespread your business is. Companies like Boeing, with locations in over 70 countries, know this firsthand. The only way to tackle complicated problems is with a plan.

“With such a broad geographic footprint, it really is challenging and difficult to prepare for every single type of outcome out there,” Keith Berthiaume told us on The Employee Safety Podcast . Keith is Enterprise Emergency Preparedness Program Manager at Boeing. “So having a plan that looks at what the impacts are and how we can prepare and respond to those, makes it a lot easier for us to have an enterprise-level response.”

During business-critical events , having a plan for business continuity is imperative to helping emergency response leaders and key stakeholders understand what to do, who to contact, how to respond, or the necessary steps to mitigate the impact. A business continuity plan also helps accelerate response times, bolstering employee safety and protecting the company’s infrastructure.

A well-developed business continuity plan serves as an emergency checklist for all emergency scenarios that might occur. In this post, we discuss what makes for a useful business continuity plan and how you can create your own business continuity plan checklist that fits your organization’s unique needs.

What Is Business Continuity?

Business continuity is your organization’s ability to maintain important business functions during emergencies or disruptions. The processes and procedures put in place through business continuity help to prevent, mitigate, and recover from threats to your operations. This way, you can maintain some level of function even when faced with potentially harmful events.

Often, larger businesses have entire business continuity management (BCM) teams or individuals whose responsibility is to develop processes and procedures. But smaller organizations tend to rely on HR to establish and communicate these protocols. No matter what your industry or size, every organization needs a business continuity plan (BCP) to document how they will protect their people and operations.

What is a business continuity plan (BCP)?

A business continuity plan outlines business processes that will take place before, during, and after an emergency to minimize interruptions and keep things as close as possible to “business as usual.” Business continuity management means spinning a lot of plates at once, and your business continuity plan will help you stay organized and prepared. A robust plan prepares you for all significant events that could endanger your people or interrupt business operations.

Emergencies often lead to interruptions in normal business operations, and these disruptions—large and small—can create long-term issues for human resources, information technology, and other business stakeholders when organizations’ emergency response plans—or those of their providers—are inadequate. They can take people and technologies offline for hours, even days or weeks, during and after an emergency.

“Regardless of the incident type, there are four ways we as a company could be impacted: the loss of our most important resource—which is our people—our buildings, our supply chain, or our IT applications. Most incidents have the potential to impact more than one of these areas, so it’s the protection of these four groups that forms the basis for how we perform business continuity.”

—Keith Berthiaume, Boeing

The nature and impact of interruptions will vary depending on your industry, business locations, number of employees, and exposure to various types of threats. Some of the most common interruptions may include

  • Supply chains
  • Distribution channels
  • Technology operations like power or internet outages, cyberattacks, or data center failures
  • Critical machinery or equipment operations
  • Employee travel and accessibility to work locations
  • Employee accessibility to work-related systems, applications, and data
  • Customer accessibility to storefronts, websites, call centers, or customer-facing applications

A business continuity plan is an important component of risk management and emergency response . While the first objective during any crisis is to safeguard employees, the second is to safeguard the business. Planning for an unplanned emergency is critical if you’re going to stay up and running.

What to Include in Your Business Continuity Plan

Your business continuity plan should include all the information necessary to coordinate an effective response to any emergency or crisis event . Typically, a BCP will include each of the following:

  • A comprehensive risk assessment
  • A business impact analysis for each risk type
  • A process for monitoring and detecting relevant threats
  • Documented recovery time objectives
  • Communication strategy and procedures

Stage 1: Risk assessment

#1 Risk assessment

According to Bob Arnold, president of Disaster Recovery Journal, the key to developing a sound business continuity plan is understanding an organization’s potential risks. “Threats come at us more frequently and more violently today,” Bob told us . You may not be able to predict which risks will impact your locations and assets, but you can conduct a business threat assessment to ensure you will be prepared for threats when they inevitably arise.

  • People impact: What are the situations that would impact your employees’ ability to work? Which job functions are most critical to your organization’s business continuity?
  • Partner impact: Which partners and service providers are you most reliant on?
  • Facility impact: What are the scenarios that could cause one or more of your worksites to become unavailable?
  • Technology impact: Which systems or tools are used to deliver goods and services to customers? What systems are used to communicate and coordinate internally?
  • Brand/reputation impact: What is the impact on your brand should your business no longer operate normally?

Specific threats will vary from organization to organization based on their geographical location and surroundings. However, most companies can perform a business continuity risk assessment for common scenarios such as

  • Severe weather
  • Workplace and structural fires
  • Power and IT outages
  • Pandemics and other health crises
  • Physical threats from individuals
  • Cybersecurity threats from inside and outside of the organization
  • Natural disasters

By taking stock of historical events and most likely-to-occur scenarios, organizations can begin to develop an ongoing list of potential threats. This list will evolve as the company grows its employee base, the number and locations of additional sites, the locations where employees may travel for business, and its fleet/equipment/technology assets. Keeping this list fresh and adjusting the plan accordingly is a must.

Stage 2: Business impact analysis

#2. Business impact analysis

Once you complete the threat assessment, conduct a business impact analysis (BIA) to determine how each of these threats could influence the business. The goal of a BIA is to predict consequences of various types of disruptions and their impact on personnel and critical business functions. You can then use this information to develop effective recovery strategies to mitigate risks and improve outcomes.

Any business disruption can have a detrimental operational and financial impact. These may include lost and/or delayed sales and income, delays in manufacturing or development, an inability to deliver goods or meet contractual agreements, increased expenses, customer dissatisfaction, and even regulatory fines.

Of course, the impact will depend greatly on the duration and timing of the disruption. A two-hour power outage will have less impact than a two-day work stoppage resulting from a hurricane. A fire in a remote and partially empty warehouse will be less of an interruption than a fire in an active manufacturing facility. By analyzing different possible scenarios, an organization can be better prepared to handle the emergency and bring operations back online more rapidly. Reevaluate this analysis regularly as new threats arise.

Stage 3: Threat monitoring & detection

#3. Threat monitoring and detection

Once you’ve identified potential threats, you need a way to effectively monitor and assess critical events near your people and assets so you can react immediately. Monitoring events before they strike is critical to protecting your people and brand. It allows you to recognize and to predict critical situations before they happen—giving you the benefit of alerting and organizing your audience in advance.

Companies like Whataburger use threat intelligence solutions to keep an eye on threats for their thousands of locations, a feat that would be next to impossible for their small team. Automatic threat monitoring allows business continuity teams to focus on response and mitigation while trusting that they will be notified immediately about any detected threats.

Learn more about how Whataburger protects its people and business during critical events with AlertMedia.

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#4. Recovery time objective

Once your risks have been identified and you’ve established a process for both identification and monitoring, it’s time to set goals. Your recovery plan outlines how to get your business back to normal as quickly as possible, and a recovery timeline is a part of that plan.

Establishing a recovery time objective (RTO)—the maximum acceptable time until the business is up and running following a crisis event—is a critical component of any BCP to ensure your response plans sufficiently protect the organization against long-term damages, including data loss, financial penalties, and more. This information will also have a direct impact on crisis management, risk mitigation, and communication strategy and how you prioritize response efforts.

You can also include your assigned recovery team in your plan to clarify the responsibility and ownership of the RTO. This team will be made up of personnel responsible for coordinating, communicating, and managing employees and stakeholders during an emergency or business interruption.

Stage 5: Communication strategy

#5. Communication strategy

A business continuity program should have at its foundation a solid emergency communication strategy . In times of crises and critical events, communication is a lifeline. Being able to relay information and instructions to employees and other business partners will help your people stay calm and guide them to the appropriate behavior. While some employees will only need to keep themselves safe, others may be designated as part of a skeleton crew who will be responsible for operating and/or maintaining the business and its vital functions.

Your emergency management and business continuity teams should designate specific individuals accountable for emergency communication, as well as at least one level of backup per function, and train them accordingly. These employees will become the most important contacts during and after an emergency and will require multiple channels for communication.

Additionally, the types of communication channels are equally as critical as the communications themselves. Using an emergency communication system will help ensure notifications and alerts are sent across multiple channels simultaneously so that every employee receives the message intended for them. Remember: During an emergency, IT infrastructure may be compromised, or computer systems may be inaccessible, so you should plan on using all available channels to communicate with critical personnel. Your system should also enable two-way communication so you can confirm whether messages were received while allowing employees to confirm their safety and contribute valuable information to help reduce downtime.

These channels may include

  • Text message
  • Mobile app push notification
  • Social media posts
  • Slack/Team message
  • Intranet site alert
  • Desktop alert

In today’s mobile culture, this multi-modal approach is the only way to ensure the affected employees receive the messages quickly, in real-time, and on the devices they are most likely to have with them. It would be completely ineffective, for instance, to send an emergency email to every employee when a portion of employees are field workers with no access to email. According to Michelle Schutte , Managing Director of Business Continuity and Incident Management at Charles Schwab, you also need to have a method of communication that is based on urgency. “You need something that really captures someone’s attention and makes them click it to go away,” said Schutte. Urgent communications shouldn’t be sent via regular, day-to-day methods such as email.

You can use our business continuity plan template to streamline your planning. Here are some of the helpful elements you can line up to ensure a fast and effective response.

Roles and responsibilities — Establish a chain of command so everyone knows who to turn to when a critical decision needs to be made. Be sure to include departments beyond the crisis team members, including internal communications, IT, and any executives who may need to communicate important information to employees and other stakeholders. Don’t forget to outline secondary contacts as well in case primary stakeholders become unavailable.

Emergency contact information — Make sure to have phone numbers readily available for staff as well as local police and fire departments, utility companies, and any other external organizations that may be able to help in the event of a threat. An emergency communication system capable of integrating with your HRIS can also help ensure this information is regularly updated and reflects employees’ current information.

Backup plan — Nearly all businesses today use computers to complete daily tasks, so a loss of those systems could mean devastation. For that reason, perform regular backups of all your computer systems and make copies of critical information either to a remote location or server. Once you back it up, make sure you also record details of how to access it. Other considerations for contingency planning include

  • Backup power: Consider keeping backup generators on hand in the event of a power outage so you can get your electrical systems or computers back up and running quickly.
  • Alternate operations site: Set up a second physical location where business operations can still be conducted if you lose access to your headquarters. This alternate site should include all the same tools and systems needed to continue work as planned, as well as equipment to recover the primary site.
  • Essential equipment and services: Essentials include access to email, web servers, data backup sites, and any other tools your day-to-day operations require. Consider the applications and vendors you depend on, and make sure you’ll still be able to use them should an incident occur.

5 Steps to Creating a Business Continuity Plan

JetBlue Airways’ 22,000 employees serve millions of customers across 26 countries. The company’s business continuity plans include dozens of possible threat scenarios, ranging from severe weather to fleets getting grounded to acts of terrorism.

Not every organization will face the same threats as JetBlue, but Penny Neferis, Director of Business Continuity and Disaster Response at the airline, takes an approach to business continuity that offers a good example for how every organization should handle a crisis.

Here are the steps she laid out for building your business continuity plan. You can follow these steps on your own or make it a little easier on yourself by using a business continuity plan template and looking through examples to base your plan off of.

Step #1: Create your team

The first step to developing a business continuity plan involves determining who will be responsible for updating and executing the plan. Business continuity and disaster recovery warrants its own team; however, the team should consider which other departments will be vital to recovery.

According to Penny, “Our small-but-mighty disaster response team [can] only work so long, and we had to learn to count on other groups to step in and help. Our teams are robust, but we felt ownership to take all emergency responses on our shoulders in the past.”

Assign one person the sole responsibility for taking charge, but assign additional recovery tasks to a variety of people across each unit of the business to guarantee no department gets left behind. True resilience management integrates various teams’ experience and awareness to ensure each strategy is as strong as it can be.

Step #2: Conduct your business impact analysis

According to Ready.gov, a business impact analysis “predicts the consequences of disruption of a business function and process, and gathers information needed to develop recovery strategies.” While similar to the threat analysis mentioned above, a BIA views threats from a cost perspective and outlines the total time it would take to recover an organization’s most important functions—including dependencies, such as people and communities. Emergencies often extend beyond the borders of an organization.

“When a crisis does happen, we look at it from three different lenses,” said Penny. “What impact does this have on our staff and crew members? What impact does this have on our customers, and what impact does this have on our community?”

Step #3: Map out your plan

Now that you have your team and you understand each threat’s impact to your business, you need to actually map out a strategy for how to keep your business running—easily the most important component of a business continuity plan. Make a list of the most critical functions to your organization as well as the disruptions that could hinder them, and develop practical recovery strategies for each scenario. Consider various “what ifs” to instill confidence among your team that they’ll be able to respond no matter the situation.

Step #4: Train and educate

You’ve completed your plan, and now you need to train your staff on it. Conduct tabletop exercises and emergency drills so everyone knows the role they will play should a disaster occur. The more “real” the event feels, the better prepared employees will be. Include key personnel and first responders, and use these training sessions to identify missing aspects or weaknesses in your plan. Keep reading for some additional tips on practice and implantation of your business continuity plan.

Step #5: Analyze and update as new threats are identified

The threat landscape evolves constantly, with new risks to business operations occurring every year. Before 2020, few organizations probably expected they would be dealing with an ongoing global pandemic, but they quickly learned to adapt. Business continuity requires both immediate and ongoing attention, and plans should be frequently analyzed and updated based on recent events and predictions.

For instance, we know severe weather and the effects of climate change will continue to be an ongoing threat to businesses across the globe, but we are seeing significant changes in how weather threats crop up. Our 2023 Threat Outlook Report breaks down changes in where weather events occur and longer seasons that may require shifts in your business continuity plan around weather threats.

Maintaining a Living Document

Your business continuity plan and BCP checklist shouldn’t be a single line-item task that you mark off and never look at again. These documents work best if they are integrated consistently through your yearly safety planning, so you can keep them updated with any necessary changes, and so your team keeps the processes top of mind. Here are a few tips for keeping your BCP a central piece of your broader safety culture.

Practice makes perfect

No emergency plan is complete without practice. This philosophy holds true for the business continuity plan. Every person in the company should have a solid understanding of business processes and what they are to do in case of specific incidents (such as a cyberattack) or general emergencies (such as fires, severe weather, workplace injuries, etc.). The designated skeleton crew needs to be clear on their roles and responsibilities, and exactly what, when, and how the business continuity plans will be triggered.

There are three basic steps in implementing both a disaster recovery plan and BCP. Not all employees will be involved in both, but all should have at least a general understanding of what will happen when the emergency plan is activated and which critical business functions will be prioritized. All employees should also have a current contact list of all of those who will be in authority during an emergency.

Before a company initiates a drill, it is a good idea to gather key stakeholders and decision-makers together to carefully and methodically evaluate the emergency and business continuity plans. Review each step with a critical eye to ensure nothing was missed and every area of the business is represented.

Once the plans are considered complete, it’s time to educate employees. Depending on how dispersed your employees are, you may choose to conduct on-site training sessions, tabletop exercises , or develop an on-demand training curriculum that employees can watch on their own time. Because the goal is to obtain 100% participation, design a measurement tool that can provide a current list of employees who have and have not watched the webinar.

The next step is to practice what was learned. Scheduling regular full emergency evacuation drills is recommended. The more “real” the event appears, meaning key personnel and first responders participate, the better-prepared employees will be should an actual critical event occur.

Those responsible for triggering the emergency plan and those involved in the skeleton crew should walk through their respective roles during a critical event. Role-playing is a successful tool that first responders often use themselves to ensure no step is missed. This role-playing will also give the organization valuable insight into how the plan actually works in a “real-life” scenario. Often, a plan will look comprehensive on paper but when it is practiced, weaknesses appear.

If possible, ask partners, vendors, and anyone who may be impacted by your company’s potential business interruption to be a part of the drill. They may be able to identify gaps in planning and provide additional “what if” scenarios.

Assess the success

Practicing the plan is not the end of the process. In fact, it simply provides a lens into how well (or not) the plan performed. You can gather valuable intelligence from each practiced drill and from the people involved. From the business leaders and skeleton crew to the employees who were impacted, it is important to gather feedback from every angle.

Questions to Ask

  • Did every employee in every location know what to do?
  • Was there any confusion, chaos, or panic during the drill?
  • Were the emergency communications delivered across multiple channels simultaneously?
  • What were the open rates for each mode of communication?
  • Did the message communicated provide the proper level of information with instructions on where to find additional information?
  • Were employees able to respond with two-way communication?
  • How long did it take to trigger the business continuity plan?
  • Was the designated skeleton crew able to keep operations going?

Of course, there could be any number of additional questions; These are just a guide, but be sure to include the opinions and experiences of employees. Their perception of how well the drill was orchestrated is as important as the actual results. The goal is not only to protect the employees but also to give them peace of mind that in virtually any situation, their company has their backs. Their perception is their reality and should be taken seriously.

Continual improvements

All the information you gathered in your questions can be used on its own or through an after-action report to make improvements to your plan and your process, so that the next drill, and the real response, are as effective and smooth as possible. By bringing people together at least annually to review the current plan, evaluate alternative available technologies, and assess potential new threats, your organization will be better prepared for any situation. Planning is never a one-time event. It is ongoing and always has room for improvement. Be sure you have business continuity management processes in place to keep it at the forefront of your annual planning.

At the end of the day, an effective business continuity plan must be fluid. But perhaps more importantly, it must also be consistent. Events will never happen exactly as you plan, but by remaining vigilant, you’ll steer clear of “deer in the headlights” syndrome and be prepared for any new challenges that may come your way.

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How to write a business continuity plan template

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To avoid the common pitfalls associated with growing a successful business, you’ll need to come up with a long-term plan. A business continuity plan template can help you anticipate and avoid disruptions to your company.

Unanticipated threats can wipe out your assets, while risky courses of action can lead to disastrous results. Take the pandemic as an example, which wrought havoc on companies’ plans for growth. In the first year, 43% of businesses temporarily closed , something few could have anticipated.

In this article, we’ll explore why you need a business continuity plan template to help you stay on steady footing, even if the ground beneath you shakes.

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What is a business continuity plan template?

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a roadmap for long-term success that factors in common pitfalls and risks. A business continuity plan template ensures that you dot your Is and cross your Ts, and craft a reliable plan to handle unexpected events or disasters.

The template will include fields for filling in information on your current resources, recovery procedures when you face critical setbacks, and a list of personnel responsible for addressing such issues.

The primary purpose of business continuity management is to analyze the current status of your company and its state of preparedness for unexpected threats. With it, senior management can find any weak spots in the business and proactively identify solutions to problems that could hinder progress toward your goals. Of course, there are other reasons you’d benefit from this template.

Why use a business continuity plan template?

Reiterating on the above, the main function of the business continuity plans template is to provide a framework for addressing any problems that may arise in various departments and areas of the business.

Without a plan for dealing with roadblocks, your business’s growth can be stunted, or worse, screech to a halt. All it takes is a few missteps or misguided risks to steer your company off course. 90% of small businesses fail within a single year if they can’t resume full operations following an unexpected disaster.

Don’t confuse a BCP with a disaster recovery plan. A BCP doesn’t just outline what to do in case of emergencies, but it presents ideas for recovering full functionality within the business to minimize the impact on growth.

Take your company’s sensitive data as an example. Relying solely on backups to external servers or hard drives could be risky. In your BCP template, you’ll want to detail how you can protect and manage your data in the event of a breach or severe weather conditions. For instance, a hybrid approach, using both a cloud-based solution and a private server, could afford you extra data security and safety.

There were 3,950 confirmed data breaches in 2020 alone, which highlights the dangers of ignoring your data security. The faster you can get back on your feet and recover from cyberthreats or unforeseen events, the easier it’ll be to hold onto your cutting edge and stay a step ahead of the competition.

Those are the benefits in theory, but let’s take a look at specific cases where BCP templates can help.

What are examples of business continuity plan templates?

Depending on your needs, these business continuity templates can provide a little extra inspiration to get started.

Risk assessment template for business continuity

Use a risk assessment table to calculate whether various weather conditions or other events could impact your day-to-day operations. Your business continuity management team could use resources such as this to identify potential threats—however unlikely —to make sure that the company isn’t caught off guard.

screenshot of risk assessment table

( Image Source )

While nobody could have predicted the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, a rigorous risk assessment system ensures that you have most bases covered, including natural disasters.

Even if your headquarters is sheltered from severe weather conditions, there may be secondary offices or physical data servers in high-risk areas. As such, it’s important to factor in all of your infrastructure to avoid getting blindsided.

Alternate site evaluation template

If you have employees working from home or away from your primary place of work, you can use an alternate site evaluation table to evaluate the possible risks. Have your employees fill out a table like this one so that you have all the relevant contact information on your books in case of an emergency.

screenshot of alternate site evaluation table

This information can help you better understand your employees’ work arrangements and troubleshoot any issues should they come up.

BCP committee table template

Use a simple BCP committee table to determine member’s roles and responsibilities. For each member, you can fill out contact information, along with a list of the main duties they are required to carry out.

screenshot of BCP committee roles table

This will make it easy for the committee members to coordinate for meetings and have a clear action plan for what to do next.

Want a template that lets you do all of this in one document? monday.com has just what the doctor ordered.

monday.com’s business continuity plan template

On the monday.com business continuity plan template, you’ll be able to enter data such as committee member contact details, disaster recovery action plans, and evacuation information.

The template covers all bases regarding potential threats you could encounter as you grow your business. With it, you’ll be able to keep all the information in a single place and enter it in an easy-to-digest way to share with your employees.

Screenshot of monday.com's business continuity plan template

And that’s not all. With monday.com Work OS, your employees can easily share and collaborate on tables and forms, so you can ask for input regarding secondary places of work and contact information. Plus, managers can access this information from anywhere, allowing them to see crucial details at a glance for better preparation.

Part of business continuity planning is ensuring your sensitive data is secure, so you’ll appreciate that monday.com protects your information with permission-based access. Only those in the BCP committee will be privy to the plans unless you wish to grant access to other employees.

If you want to expand beyond the BCP and really detail how you’ll deal with potential disasters and risks, we’ve got a few templates for you.

Related templates from monday.com

Let’s take a look at a few templates that are related to a business continuity plan template.

Disaster recovery template

A Disaster Recovery Template falls under the scope of the business continuity plan committee. It’s just what it sounds like: a comprehensive plan for necessary actions if disaster strikes. More specifically, the plan should inform your approach for getting systems back online when they go down.

In this disaster recovery template, you can include everything from cyber-attacks and data breaches to worldwide pandemics or natural disasters. You can integrate these reports into your overall BCP to get a comprehensive overview of your recovery plans.

Operating functions template

An operating functions template gives you an idea of how you can cut costs in various processes and workflows. It can also inform how you can implement more sustainable business practices and initiatives.

Check out these different operations templates from monday.com that can be used with the BCP template to outline potential risks associated with new initiatives and suggested changes to work processes.

Program risk register

The Program Risk Register Template is for the early-stage process of identifying and evaluating potential risks to your business. It complements the business continuity plan template well — you can focus on valid, severe, likely risks in your BCP, and have a separate table for risks of all likelihoods and potential levels of impact.

FAQs about business continuity plan templates

How do you write a business continuity plan.

You can write a business continuity plan by first listing the various departments of your company and what risks or threats they might face. From there, you can assess the likelihood of these threats coming to fruition. Once you have an idea of the probability of the various threats to your company, you can prioritize them.

With a prioritized list, you can start with the most pressing threat and proactively brainstorm what actions you could take if it were to arise. The purpose of the BCP is to shield your company against anything that could hinder your progress. Coming up with potential solutions for addressing hypothetical problems can prepare you for real ones in the future.

What is a small business continuity plan?

A small business continuity plan is a document that details potential risks and threats to a small business. It’s well worth creating such a document as a small business owner, as it can save you from disaster as you strive to scale the company.

For small businesses, any hitch can prove disastrous. 38.8% of US-based small businesses were affected by supply chain issues in 2021, which, for some, would have impeded growth significantly. Over-reliance on foreign suppliers could be an example of an unnecessary risk that, without being addressed, could spell disaster for a small business.

With the business continuity plan in place, you can protect your business in its most vulnerable state of growth. The plan forces you to think laterally about the threats that could sink your business. That way, you can make necessary course corrections and increase your chances of long-term survival.

What is an example of a business continuity plan?

An example of a business continuity plan is to plan out how you’ll protect your app’s uptime in the event something happens to one data center: for example, running a clone in AWS you can always fall back on.

What are the 3 elements of business continuity?

The three most vital elements within business continuity are resilience, recovery, and contingency.

  • Resilience: how you’ll make it as hard as possible for critical functions to fail.
  • Recovery: how you’ll get back to normal operations if disaster strikes.
  • Contingency: what you’ll do if plan A for recovery fails.
  • Project risk management

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Checklist for continuity with a remote workforce

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Organizations need to prepare for emergencies that require employees to suddenly switch from a corporate environment to a home office.

Emergencies can strike at any time, requiring organizations to move quickly to maintain business continuity at scale and minimize the disruption.

Continuity plans must encompass not only the technology required to keep the business up and running, but also the human aspect — making sure employees are well-trained and prepared to work remotely.

As the size of the remote workforce suddenly increases, here is a 10-point checklist for IT leaders to consider when tackling the technology piece of the puzzle.

1. Network capacity planning:  Conduct a capacity analysis to determine whether internet bandwidth is sufficient to handle the increased WAN traffic that occurs when large numbers of employees access the network. Additional items on the capacity planning checklist include firewalls, VPNs and other remote access-related technologies that might be overwhelmed by the increased volume of traffic coming from outside of corporate headquarters.

2. Security monitoring:  Intensify activities designed to detect and prevent attacks. Hackers are likely to take this opportunity to increase malicious activities. Securing the human training can be delivered remotely to ensure that employees remember and follow the organization’s security practices.

3. Identity and access management:  Beef up identity and access management for remote workers through methods such as multifactor authentication.

4. Data protection:  Ensure that security is extended and corporate data is encrypted to prevent the unintentional or malicious exposure of sensitive data.

5. VPNs:  Make sure that VPN agents are installed on every device that connects to the corporate network to provide secure remote access.

6. Devices:  Prepare for a shortage of devices to support the growing number of remote workers. Have a contingency purchase plan as well as a template for quickly configuring the device and loading the appropriate software.

7. Bring your own device (BYOD):  Consider BYOD as supply chains are strained and the ability to get the needed hardware to employees becomes increasingly difficult. Using a cloud-based portal, employees can self-register their devices and download VPNs and other security tools, with the ability to segregate corporate data from personal information.

8. Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI):  Consider deploying a thin client architecture for remote workers as another option. However, upfront planning is required to make sure the thin clients are available and that the back-end server infrastructure is in place to support the thin client model.

9. Collaboration:  Provide strong communication and collaboration capabilities to help keep employees productive and engaged. Organizations may want to look at videoconferencing tools to compensate for the lack of face time to help employees feel more connected. Collaboration platforms such as Microsoft 365 and Teams and Google Workspace are providing new ways of working, connecting and collaborating. Training employees on how to conduct work in these virtual spaces is critical.

10. IT support:  Be prepared for a significant volume increase for IT support. Some employees may have been abruptly moved to a remote access environment, while others may now find themselves with new devices, software or tools they have never used before. And as a remote working model typically provides increases in flexibility, spikes in support needs may not follow the traditional patterns of regular business hours. The IT department needs to be prepared to offer omnichannel and remote support, including video options for face-to-face communications. Of course, service desk employees may themselves be working remotely, so pay special attention to make sure they have the capacity and the tools to respond to service desk issues from their home offices. Proactive and predictive analytics tools, combined with an easy-to-use support portal, can drastically reduce the calls to a strained service desk for rudimentary problems.

As we all know, even the best-laid plans don’t always work perfectly. In the midst of a global crisis, organizations might find that their business continuity plans haven’t accounted for an unprecedented level of scale, urgency, capacity and employee needs. In these instances, organizations should stay in close contact with their preferred vendors. There is no need to go it alone when expert help and support are available.

Unexpected challenges can cause maximum disruption to people’s lives and to business. The way in which we mitigate risks to ease the strain on businesses and their employees will ensure an organization’s ability to continue into the future.

Learn more about DXC Modern Workplace services.

About the author

Dean Fernandes  is DXC Technology’s vice president of Workplace and Mobility. His focus is on customer alignment of IT and core business, and global delivery of large-scale digital IT programs. Dean previously held leadership positions at Pearson Education, where he was responsible for driving the company’s digital transformation of the workplace function. Dean also served at CSC, helped create the MyWorkStyle portfolio and was the general manager of Nortel’s network application services business. 

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Template for an effective business continuity plan.

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Why business continuity and disaster recovery planning are key to success and  how to get started 

If there’s one lesson unexpected circumstances like natural disasters, sudden sales drops or spikes, and economic changes have imparted, it’s that businesses must be prepared for anything. Challenging times can appear suddenly and managing business means managing change. A moment in time can change the course of the future. Previously, that meant planning ahead for network outages that could leave employees unable to access work-critical applications or boosting security measures to prevent cyberattacks. 

If larger, unprecedented events happen, companies may be forced to quickly reinvent their business models, shift to remote work, or find new ways to operate while trying to minimize disruption. It’s safe to say that these days, business continuity looks and feels a little different and a lot more uncertain. 

The silver lining? Businesses now understand that being predictive and proactive is key to success and that having a detailed business continuity and disaster recovery plan in place is essential. It’s also critical to have technological systems in place to support and enable your company and employees in the face of rapidly changing conditions. 

  Download this whitepaper to get tips on business continuity planning to help you understand how you can disaster-proof your business for the future and a template that you can copy and customize. 

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Business Continuity Planning: Ensuring the Resilience of Your Organization

Let’s explore the intricacies of business continuity planning, from understanding its importance to implementing a robust strategy that safeguards your enterprise.

Published by Orgvue   November 20, 2023

Home > Resources > article > Business Continuity Planning: Ensuring the Resilience of Your Organization

In an unpredictable world, the ability to sustain your business’s essential functions and operations, even in the face of disruptions, is paramount.

business continuity plan email to employees

Business continuity planning is the framework that ensures your organization can weather storms, both literal and metaphorical.

What is Business Continuity Planning?

At its core, business continuity planning is the process of developing a proactive strategy to ensure an organization’s critical functions and operations can continue in the face of unforeseen disruptions.

It encompasses a range of activities, from risk assessment to the creation of detailed recovery plans, with the ultimate goal of minimizing downtime and ensuring the organization’s resilience.

The Importance of Business Continuity Planning

The importance of being prepared for various external and internal factors cannot be overstated. While many businesses have a standard business plan, not all of them consider the potential disruptions caused by natural calamities, economic downturns, or other unexpected events. Business continuity planning is the key to ensuring a company’s sustained operation, regardless of the challenges it may face.

Business continuity planning goes beyond the traditional business plan. While a business plan outlines goals and strategies for growth, a continuity plan focuses on how the organization will continue to function in the face of adversity. It involves identifying potential risks and developing strategies to mitigate and recover from them. Whether it’s a natural disaster, a cyberattack or an economic recession, having a well-thought-out strategic plan is essential for business survival.

One of the most significant threats to businesses is an economic downturn, such as a recession. During these challenging times, consumer spending often decreases, and businesses may face financial instability. A recession can have a ripple effect on companies of all sizes, causing decreased revenue, layoffs, and even closures.

For a detailed look at the impact of recessions on businesses, read how to prepare for a recession , which delves into strategies for navigating these challenging economic conditions.

Business strategy planning is not just about surviving during tough times; it’s also crucial for capitalizing on periods of growth. When businesses experience an upturn, they often need to scale rapidly to meet increased demand. Having a continuity plan in place allows for a smoother transition during periods of growth, ensuring that the infrastructure, resources and workforce can adapt effectively.

The financial consequences of not having a business continuity plan can be devastating. Without a plan in place, businesses are more vulnerable to unexpected disruptions, which can result in significant financial losses. These losses may come from increased downtime, lost revenue, legal liabilities, reputational damage and the costs associated with recovery efforts.

Considerations for Business Continuity Planning

Creating a robust business continuity plan is a complex task that involves a multitude of factors. Among these considerations, three key aspects stand out: cultural differences, limited resources and alignment with business objectives. A successful business strategy plan takes these factors into account to ensure that an organization can effectively respond to disruptions while maintaining its core values and strategic direction.

1. Cultural Differences

Cultural diversity is a significant consideration in business strategy planning, especially for multinational companies or organizations with a diverse workforce. Cultural differences can influence how employees perceive and respond to crises. When developing a business continuity plan, it is important to consider the following aspects:

  • Communication Styles : Different cultures have varying communication norms and hierarchies. Understanding how employees from various cultural backgrounds communicate during a crisis can help in crafting effective crisis communication strategies.
  • Decision-Making Processes : Some cultures prioritize consensus-driven decision-making, while others lean towards hierarchical authority. A business continuity plan should acknowledge these differences and provide flexibility in decision-making approaches during disruptions.
  • Crisis Response Expectations : Cultural expectations can shape how employees expect the organization to respond to a crisis. Your business strategy plan should be sensitive to these expectations and ensure that response strategies align with cultural norms.

2. Limited Resources

For many businesses, resource constraints are a reality. When developing a business continuity plan, it’s crucial to consider the organization’s resource limitations, such as budget, personnel and technology. Here are some key considerations:

  • Resource Allocation : Prioritize critical functions and allocate resources accordingly. Not all business processes are equally important, and a business continuity plan should identify and protect the most essential ones first.
  • Efficiency and Scalability : Develop strategies that focus on efficiency and scalability. Efficient resource use is critical, and a business strategy plan should outline how to adapt to changing resource constraints during a crisis.
  • Collaboration : Collaboration with external partners, such as suppliers, can be a resource-saving strategy. Establishing relationships with partners who can provide support during disruptions is a valuable aspect.

3. Business Objectives

A business continuity plan should align with the broader business objectives to ensure that it doesn’t hinder growth or innovation. Consider the following aspects:

  • Market Expansion:  If the organization’s objective is to expand into new markets, the business strategy plan should accommodate this goal. It should address the challenges and opportunities that come with market expansion, including regulatory compliance and logistical considerations.
  • Relocation or Migration : If there are plans to relocate or migrate operations, the business continuity plan should include strategies for a seamless transition. This may involve considerations such as data migration, employee relocation and continuity of customer service.
  • Competitive Landscape : Changes in the competitive landscape, such as the emergence of new competitors, can impact the organization’s continuity. The business strategy plan should be flexible enough to adapt to shifts in the competitive environment.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic forced companies to adapt rapidly, with remote work becoming the norm for many, reshaping entire industries like healthcare and e-commerce.
  • The global recession of 2008 had long-lasting effects on financial institutions and prompted regulatory changes that influenced business operations.
  • The rise of the internet transformed countless businesses, from retail to media, and required adaptation to online platforms.
  • Looking ahead, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence have the potential to disrupt industries in unprecedented ways, with automation and data-driven decision-making reshaping the future of work. These events emphasize the critical importance of adaptable and comprehensive business continuity planning to navigate the unpredictable landscape of our ever-evolving world.

Developing a Strategic Business Plan

A well structured business plan serves as a roadmap for your organization, guiding actions and decisions while enabling effective response to a dynamic business environment.

  • Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the current state of the business.
  • Review financial statements, market positioning and operational performance.
  • Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
  • Evaluate the company’s internal resources and capabilities.
  • Analyze micro-environment factors such as competitors, customers, suppliers and regulatory changes.
  • Examine macro-environment factors like economic trends, technological advancements and political factors.
  • Use tools like PESTEL analysis and Porter’s Five Forces to assess the external business environment.
  • Clearly define short-term and long-term business objectives.
  • Make objectives specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART).
  • Align objectives with the company’s mission and vision.
  • Identify key operational processes that drive business success.
  • Evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of these processes.
  • Prioritize improvements in critical areas to align with strategic objectives.
  • Plan for potential risks and uncertainties that could impact the business.
  • Create contingency and crisis management strategies.
  • Establish a risk management framework to mitigate and respond to unforeseen events.
  • Implement key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress.
  • Regularly review and revise the business plan based on changing market conditions.
  • Adapt to emerging opportunities and challenges.
  • Ensure that the strategic plan is communicated effectively throughout the organization.
  • Secure buy-in and commitment from employees at all levels.
  • Ensure that all team members understand their roles in achieving the plan’s objectives.
  • Allocate resources, including finances and manpower, in alignment with the strategic priorities.
  • Develop a budget that reflects the financial requirements of the plan.
  • Monitor spending and adjust budgets as needed.
  • Develop a timeline and action plan for the execution of the strategic initiatives.
  • Assign responsibilities to specific teams or individuals.
  • Regularly review progress and make adjustments to stay on track.
  • Periodically evaluate the effectiveness of the strategic plan.
  • Solicit feedback from employees, customers and stakeholders.
  • Use feedback to make continuous improvements and refine the plan.
  • Establish a system for measuring and reporting progress.
  • Create dashboards or reports to communicate key metrics to stakeholders.
  • Ensure that performance data aligns with the defined objectives.
  • Incorporate sustainability and responsible growth practices into the plan.
  • Address social and environmental impacts as part of corporate responsibility.
  • Seek opportunities for sustainable growth and innovation.
  • Develop scenarios that explore alternative future situations.
  • Consider various outcomes and their implications on the business.
  • Prepare for different scenarios to enhance adaptability.
  • Leverage technology for data analytics, automation, and efficiency.
  • Stay updated on emerging technologies that can support the strategic plan.
  • Integrate technology solutions to enhance business processes.

Implementing a Business Continuity Plan

business continuity plan email to employees

 Importance of Training and Awareness:

  • Awareness:  Create awareness about the business continuity plan across the organization to foster a culture of preparedness. This includes educating employees on the potential risks and the importance of the plan.

 Consistent Review of the Plan:

  • Conduct post-incident reviews to assess the BCP’s performance after a real event and make necessary adjustments.

 Address Cultural and Technological Issues:

  • Technological Challenges: Recognize and mitigate technological hurdles that can hinder the plan’s execution, such as infrastructure limitations or cybersecurity threats. Ensure that IT systems are resilient and can support the plan.

 Software Integration:

  • Organizational design software like Orgvue can assist in visualizing and optimizing the organizational structure, enabling efficient allocation of resources and responsibilities during a disruption.

Business continuity planning is not merely a precaution but a strategic imperative for any organization. It provides a structured approach to safeguarding business operations in the face of unforeseen disruptions, thereby minimizing downtime and potential financial losses.

By fostering a culture of preparedness, training employees, regularly reviewing and adapting the plan, addressing cultural and technological issues, and leveraging software solutions like Orgvue for organizational design, businesses can ensure their resilience and adaptability in an ever-changing landscape.

For businesses with specific 1-5 year plans, the integration of business strategy planning is paramount. It aligns seamlessly with forward-looking strategies by fortifying the organization’s ability to execute those plans in the face of unexpected events.

By weaving business continuity considerations into your strategic framework, you not only protect your investments but also demonstrate your commitment to long-term success, customer trust and stakeholder confidence. The benefits of such foresight extend far beyond mitigating risk; they empower your business to thrive in an increasingly unpredictable world. Therefore, it is recommended that businesses of all sizes prioritize and integrate business continuity planning as an integral part of their strategic vision and ongoing operations.

Business Continuity Plan FAQs

● where does business continuity planning belong in an organization.

Depending on the organization’s culture, the department your business continuity plan falls under varies. IT is usually one of the most vital components of any business strategy plan, in which case it could belong under the IT department. Or, if financial impacts are your organization’s main concern, the finance department may need to run the plan.

● Who Is Responsible For the Business Continuity Plan?

The business continuity plan usually falls under the responsibility of a dedicated role or department, often led by a Business Continuity Manager, who reports to senior leadership. This individual or team is responsible for creating, implementing, and regularly updating the plan to ensure the organization’s resilience in the face of disruptions.

● Is Business Continuity Planning a Legal Requirement?

It is not always a legal requirement, but certain industries and jurisdictions may have regulations or standards that mandate organizations to have such plans in place to ensure operational resilience and preparedness for emergencies.

● What Role Can Business Continuity Planning Play In Recovering From an Incident?

It plays a crucial role in helping organizations recover from incidents by providing a structured framework to assess, respond to and mitigate the impact of disruptions, minimizing downtime and financial losses. It outlines clear procedures and responsibilities, ensuring that essential operations can resume swiftly and efficiently, thus safeguarding the organization’s reputation and maintaining stakeholder trust.

● When Should a Business Continuity Plan Be Activated?

A business continuity plan should be activated as a preventative measure in the event a disruptive incident occurs. Triggers may include natural disasters, cyberattacks, supply chain disruptions or any event that threatens the continuity of critical business functions.

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Email Security: How BC Professionals Can Help Their Companies Stay Safe

Email Security: How BC Professionals Can Help Their Companies Stay Safe

These days social media is the little red sports car of communications platforms while email is more like your father’s Oldsmobile.

However, the fact is, email is still the mainstay of internal communications for business.

For large organizations, email continues to offer powerful advantages over other communications platforms. These include its near universal acceptance and familiarity, its ability to keep a record of important communications, and the ability it provides to send attachments.

Email is also far from dead in the world at large: Its use continues to grow internationally. You can use email without having any social media accounts, but every social media account requires an email address. Every purchase you make online requires one as well.

Unfortunately, email also has one big disadvantage: It’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest, vulnerabilities in every organization’s computing environment.

In this post, which is Part 3 in MHA Consulting’s Corporate Security Awareness series, we are going to look at the dangers of email from a business continuity perspective, as well as how organizations can protect themselves.

View Part 1 of the series on Helping Your Employees Stay Safe When Using Non-Company Wi-Fi Networks , and Part 2 The New World of BYOD: How You Can Help Your Organization Stay Safe .

What is the role of the business continuity professional when it comes to email security?

Obviously, the responsibility for setting up the email system and establishing the company’s email policies lies with other departments.

However, business continuity managers should make it their business to understand the risks associated with email. They can also act as advocates within the company for safe email practices. By raising the matter of email safety with their partners in IT security and other departments, BC managers can raise awareness and promote the adoption of safer policies.

The role of advocate is especially important for BC professionals working at smaller or less mature organizations. Larger companies tend to have a good handle on email security, but smaller ones often have a lot of room for improvement.

For the remainder of this article, I’ll talk about email security as it pertains to the following five areas:

  • Best practices
  • Business continuity
  • Disaster recovery planning

For convenience, the tips below will be written as if addressed to the individual user, but the real audience is business continuity professionals with responsibility for the recoverability of systems of the entire organization.

The main thing to be aware of is that email is probably the riskiest application in the computing environment. There are two main dangers: that employees will accidentally give sensitive data away to the wrong people, and that harmful programs from outside will sneak in through email and infect the network.

One of the biggest email dangers is the phishing attack , which is when a bad actor sends an email that is disguised to appear as if it comes from a sender trusted by the recipient. The email asks the recipient to provide sensitive personal information, such as login credentials or credit card numbers. Frequently, the email will include a link to a page that cleverly mimics a trusted web site. If the recipient is deceived and enters their information, that data will go straight into the hands of the hacker.

The other danger from email that is most commonly encountered is when malware is allowed into the system by people clicking on infected attachments. Malware can include viruses that destroy network data or programs that secretly track your keystrokes.

These threats are present both with cloud-based email applications such as Gmail and with email systems administered by the company on virtual private networks (VPNs).

Follow these tips to reduce your chances of being victimized by a phishing or malware attack:

  • Never open an email from a sender you don’t recognize.
  • Never open attachments you aren’t expecting or that do not come from someone you know and trust.
  • Do not, under any circumstances, provide personal information that is requested through a cold email.
  • Be on the lookout for emails that look as if they come from a corporate sender but which do not have the type of email address you would expect from that sender. (For example, an email purporting to come from Amazon but which was sent from a Gmail address rather than from [email protected] .)
  • When responding to a request for information that appears to be legitimate, go to the company’s website through an address you enter yourself rather than clicking on a link in an email.

Reporting has to do with letting the right people know when you think you’ve found something fishy going on with the emails you receive.

You should notify your company’s IT security department if you receive any kind of suspicious email, such as an apparent phishing attack or an email from an unknown sender containing an attachment.

Also, notify them if you think your spam filter has stopped working.

Do not forward any email that you believe is suspicious. This increases the risk that any malware it contains will infect the company’s servers.

Email Security Best Practices

Good corporate email implementations include the following:

  • Spam filtering
  • Content filtering
  • Two-factor authentication
  • Policies requiring hard passwords and the regular changing of passwords
  • The avoidance of the sharing email addresses (groups or aliases should be used to send emails to more than one person)

The company should also have a policy stating the allowable level of personal use of company email. Ideally, no such use should be allowed. The more that company email addresses are used out in the world, the more spam they will receive, and the more likely they are to be targeted by hackers.

Business Continuity

Email is a mission-critical application for most companies. Most organizations rely heavily on email not only for day-to-day business communication but also for communication during emergencies.

The main on-site email providers have very good high-availability solutions so that you can run their systems across locations and data centers.

Of course, many organizations have recently shifted to cloud-based email. This has led to some incorrect assumptions about the security of those systems. The main assumption is that cloud-based systems are magically protected from disruption.

The fact is, cloud-based email systems are only as resilient as the networks that carry them. With a cloud-based system, if your network goes down, your email goes down. If the network access at your facility goes away, you would have to send people to a remote location to access email. The network is the limiting factor for cloud-based email. For companies running cloud-based email, the security of their systems is enhanced if they have multiple internet service providers, including a primary and a backup.

Whatever kind of system your company uses, be sure you have a good understanding of its vulnerabilities and recovery capabilities.

Disaster Recovery Planning

In preparing your disaster recovery plan, don’t under-prioritize the importance of recovering your email systems. Many emergency plans depend on email for executing other parts of the plan (for example, transmitting key disaster-related messages to employees and outside parties).

Make sure the recovery time objective (RTO) in your plan for restoring email service is soon enough so that it can be leveraged as necessary to carry out the other parts of the plan.

This breakdown should help BC professionals who want to deepen their understanding of email security issues and discuss them with their partners in IT and other departments.

Ensuring that email recovery is properly prioritized and provided for in the disaster recovery plan is a core responsibility of the BC department. The BC manager who helps their company get stronger in email security will be doing an important service.

business continuity plan email to employees

Richard Long

Richard Long is one of MHA’s practice team leaders for Technology and Disaster Recovery related engagements. He has been responsible for the successful execution of MHA business continuity and disaster recovery engagements in industries such as Energy & Utilities, Government Services, Healthcare, Insurance, Risk Management, Travel & Entertainment, Consumer Products, and Education. Prior to joining MHA, Richard held Senior IT Director positions at PetSmart (NASDAQ: PETM) and Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT) and has been a senior leader across all disciplines of IT. He has successfully led international and domestic disaster recovery, technology assessment, crisis management and risk mitigation engagements.

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Email Archiving, File Archiving Software, case management

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Email archiving and business continuity planning.

In the event of a disaster, every business must keep company operations running and recover quickly from the event. This is known as business continuity.

Table of Contents

Ask yourself the following questions!

How much of your organisations business-critical data is kept in digital form? Data can be kept on premise, in the cloud or in a hybrid format.

Would your employees be able to continue to access essential data and continue to deliver key products and services during an emergency?

What is a business continuity plan (BCP)

Business continuity planning is where approaches are outlined to prevent disruption to or failure of a company’s business capability or, in an emergency, to get business up and running again as quickly as possible. These strategies need constant review as IT systems and processes are continually changing.

By having a business continuity plan and discovery plan working in together, it will be your insurance policy against the damage of an emergency.

Why might hardware or software systems fail?

While most businesses want to avoid disaster, problems will always occur. There are a multitude of reasons why hardware or software systems might fail. From the simplicity of a human error to natural disasters to the deliberate manipulation of data. Manipulation of data can take many forms also, intentional deletion of data by employees, cyber-attacks (phishing, ransomware, malware) from outside your organisation. Also, business operations can be halted if the infrastructure of the cloud provider goes down. For example your email system going down like Office 365 has done recently. Click here for the top 8 pitfalls of Office 365 email archiving.  

The Importance of Uninterrupted Access to Email and Data.

Email downtime can be very expensive, it will involve the loss of employee productivity as well as the loss of business opportunities.  Email is the most common form of company communication and having reliable access to email determines business continuity. Today, most organisations have employees working across the world remotely, in multiple time zones, who need access to crucial information and communications. Companies that rely on email to conduct their business must have continuous access to maintain their daily operations.

How does email archiving help?

Email as well as File Archiving software can enable your employee to continue to access their essential data and continue to deliver key services and/or products during an emergency. This makes Email and File archiving a crucial component of any Business continuity plan. In larger organisations it can be difficult to monitor emails your employees are deleting which can contain crucial data and leave you in breach of data compliance regulations.

Email Archiving automatically saves all your companies email data; this allows a business to safeguard its business-critical information in archived emails without the need to sacrifice server speeds.

Email archiving is also essential in the event of litigation, or a records or eDiscovery request being made, if a business fails to produce this information, it can be fined or even prosecuted. Even if you’ve previously kept your email data – using legal holds or downloading .pst files – in the event of a disaster or systems failure, without an email archiving solution in place, that data could be lost. By having email archiving as part of your organisations business continuity planning software in place can your business meet data compliance requirements and be properly prepared for an emergency or disruption to the business.

Email Archiving v’s Back up

A backup and an archive are used for completely different purposes and are quite different in several ways. Below, is a quick summary of the key differences between a backup and an archive and the critical common features which are important in both. You can find out more detailed info here- Email Archiving versus Data Back Up . 

  • Backup is for recovery from hardware failure or recent data corruption or loss
  • Archiving is for space management, compliance, risk aversion and long-term retention

Depending on what backup solutions you already have in place, email archiving can speed up the process whenever your data needs to be restored. This is because the archived data takes up less space.

The Importance of Continuity in the Time of Remote Working

When workers are spread out it is even more important to know where all your vital data is stored securely and accessible in the event of an emergency. Working remotely means that colleagues spend more time communicating digitally via email and so mailboxes will have seen an increase in traffic. However, with increase of email traffic comes an increase of risks of breaches or attacks. It is therefore important to understand how online solutions such as email archiving can help in an email attack . Not only can this be costly to your business but also to your reputation.

If you re looking to add email archiving to your business continuity planning. Waterford Technologies has the solution for you. Our cloud and on premise-based email archiving solutions can ensure that your employees have access to their business-critical data even in the event of an emergency. Your Businesses can carry on as usual and rest assured that sensitive information is being protected. Our email archiving solution MailMeter can be implemented into any current email system such as Office 365 and G-Suite.

Our experts are ready to talk to you one on one to suggest archival best practices, to help you manage email storage and discovery better, learn how to make use of all the archived business email for business intelligence and stay ready for regulation compliance.

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Blog Business

7 Business Continuity Plan Examples

By Danesh Ramuthi , Nov 28, 2023

Business Continuity Plan Examples

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a strategic framework that prepares businesses to maintain or swiftly resume their critical functions in the face of disruptions, whether they stem from natural disasters, technological failures, human error, or other unforeseen events.

In today’s fast-paced world, businesses face an array of potential disruptions ranging from cyberattacks and ransomware to severe weather events and global pandemics. By having a well-crafted BCP, businesses can mitigate these risks, ensuring the safety and continuity of their critical services and operations.

Responsibility for business continuity planning typically lies with top management and dedicated planning teams within an organization. It is a cross-functional effort that involves input and coordination across various departments, ensuring that all aspects of the business are considered.

For businesses looking to develop or refine their business continuity strategies, there are numerous resources available. Tools like Venngage’s business plan maker and their business continuity plan templates offer practical assistance, streamlining the process of creating a robust and effective BCP. 

Click to jump ahead: 

7 business continuity plan examples

Business continuity types, how to write a business continuity plan, how often should a business continuity plan be reviewed, business continuity plan vs. disaster recovery plan, final thoughts.

In business, unpredictability is the only certainty. This is where business continuity plans (BCPs) come into play. These plans are not just documents; they are a testament to a company’s preparedness and commitment to sustained operations under adverse conditions. To illustrate the practicality and necessity of these plans, let’s delve into some compelling examples.

Business continuity plan example for small business

Imagine a small business specializing in digital marketing services, with a significant portion of its operations reliant on continuous internet connectivity and digital communication tools. This business, although small, caters to a global clientele, making its online presence and prompt service delivery crucial.

Business Consultant Continuity Plan Template

Scope and objective:

This Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is designed to ensure the continuity of digital marketing services and client communications in the event of an unforeseen and prolonged internet outage. Such an outage could be caused by a variety of factors, including cyberattacks, technical failures or service provider issues. The plan aims to minimize disruption to these critical services, ensuring that client projects are delivered on time and communication lines remain open and effective.

Operations at risk:

Operation: Digital Marketing Services Operation Description: A team dedicated to creating and managing digital marketing campaigns for clients across various time zones. Business Impact: High Impact Description: The team manages all client communications, campaign designs, and real-time online marketing strategies. An internet outage would halt all ongoing campaigns and client communications, leading to potential loss of business and client trust.

Recovery strategy:

The BCP should include immediate measures like switching to a backup internet service provider or using mobile data as a temporary solution. The IT team should be prepared to deploy these alternatives swiftly. Additionally, the company should have a protocol for informing clients about the situation via alternative communication channels like mobile phones.

Roles and responsibilities:

Representative: Alex Martinez Role: IT Manager Description of Responsibilities:

  • Oversee the implementation of the backup internet connectivity plan.
  • Coordinate with the digital marketing team to ensure minimal disruption in campaign management.
  • Communicate with the service provider for updates and resolution timelines.

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan Template

Business continuity plan example for software company

In the landscape of software development, a well-structured Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is vital. This example illustrates a BCP for a software company, focusing on a different kind of disruption: a critical data breach.

Business Continuity Plan Template

Scope and objectives:

This BCP is designed to ensure the continuity of software development and client data security in the event of a significant data breach. Such a breach could be due to cyberattacks, internal security lapses, or third-party service vulnerabilities. The plan prioritizes the rapid response to secure data, assess the impact on software development projects and maintain client trust and communication.

Operation: Software Development and Data Security Operation Description: The software development team is responsible for creating and maintaining software products, which involves handling sensitive client data. In the realm of software development, where the creation and maintenance of products involve handling sensitive client data, prioritizing security is crucial. Strengthen your software development team’s capabilities by incorporating the best antivirus with VPN features, offering a robust defense to protect client information and maintain a secure operational environment. The integrity and security of this data are paramount.

Business Impact: Critical Impact Description: A data breach could compromise client data, leading to loss of trust, legal consequences and potential financial penalties. It could also disrupt ongoing development projects and delay product releases.

The IT security team should immediately isolate the breached systems to prevent further data loss. They should then work on identifying the breach’s source and extent. Simultaneously, the client relations team should inform affected clients about the breach and the steps being taken. The company should also engage a third-party cybersecurity firm for an independent investigation and recovery assistance.

Representative: Sarah Lopez Role: Head of IT Security Contact Details: [email protected] Description of Responsibilities:

  • Lead the initial response to the data breach, including system isolation and assessment.
  • Coordinate with external cybersecurity experts for breach analysis and mitigation.
  • Work with the legal team to understand and comply with data breach notification laws.
  • Communicate with the software development team leaders about the impact on ongoing projects.

Business Continuity Plan Templates

Related: 7 Best Business Plan Software for 2023

Business continuity plan example for manufacturing

In the manufacturing sector, disruptions can significantly impact production lines, supply chains, and customer commitments. This example of a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for a manufacturing company addresses a specific scenario: a major supply chain disruption.

Business Continuity Plan Template

This BCP is formulated to ensure the continuity of manufacturing operations in the event of a significant supply chain disruption. Such disruptions could be caused by geopolitical events, natural disasters affecting key suppliers or transportation network failures. The plan focuses on maintaining production capabilities and fulfilling customer orders by managing and mitigating supply chain risks.

Operation: Production Line Operation Description: The production line is dependent on a steady supply of raw materials and components from various suppliers to manufacture products. Business Impact: High Impact Description: A disruption in the supply chain can lead to a halt in production, resulting in delayed order fulfillment, loss of revenue and potential damage to customer relationships.

The company should establish relationships with alternative suppliers to ensure a diversified supply chain. In the event of a disruption, the procurement team should be able to quickly switch to these alternative sources. Additionally, maintaining a strategic reserve of critical materials can buffer short-term disruptions. The logistics team should also develop flexible transportation plans to adapt to changing scenarios.

Representative: Michael Johnson Role: Head of Supply Chain Management Contact Details: [email protected] Description of Responsibilities:

  • Monitor global supply chain trends and identify potential risks.
  • Develop and maintain relationships with alternative suppliers.
  • Coordinate with logistics to ensure flexible transportation solutions.
  • Communicate with production managers about supply chain status and potential impacts on production schedules.

Related: 15+ Business Plan Templates for Strategic Planning

BCPs are essential for ensuring that a business can continue operating during crises. Here’s a summary of the different types of business continuity plans that are common:

  • Operational : Involves ensuring that critical systems and processes continue functioning without disruption. It’s vital to have a plan to minimize revenue loss in case of disruptions.
  • Technological : For businesses heavily reliant on technology, this type of continuity plan focuses on maintaining and securing internal systems, like having offline storage for important documents.
  • Economic continuity : This type ensures that the business remains profitable during disruptions. It involves future-proofing the organization against scenarios that could negatively impact the bottom line.
  • Workforce continuity : Focuses on maintaining adequate and appropriate staffing levels, especially during crises, ensuring that the workforce is capable of handling incoming work.
  • Safety : Beyond staffing, safety continuity involves creating a comfortable and secure work environment where employees feel supported, especially during crises.
  • Environmental : It addresses the ability of the team to operate effectively and safely in their physical work environment, considering threats to physical office spaces and planning accordingly.
  • Security : Means prioritizing the safety and security of employees and business assets, planning for potential security breaches and safeguarding important business information.
  • Reputation : Focuses on maintaining customer satisfaction and a good reputation, monitoring conversations about the brand and having action plans for reputation management.

Business Continuity Planning Templates

As I have explained so far, a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is invaluable. Writing an effective BCP involves a series of strategic steps, each crucial to ensuring that your business can withstand and recover from unexpected events. Here’s a guide on how to craft a robust business continuity plan:

Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery Plan Template

1. Choose your business continuity team

Assemble a dedicated team responsible for the development and implementation of the BCP. The team should include members from various departments with a deep understanding of the business operations.

2. Outline your plan objectives

Clearly articulate what the plan aims to achieve. Objectives may include minimizing financial loss, ensuring the safety of employees, maintaining critical business operations, and protecting the company’s reputation.

3. Meet with key players in your departments

Engage with department heads and key personnel to gain insights into the specific needs and processes of each department. This helps in identifying critical functions and resources.

4. Identify critical functions and types of threats

Determine which functions are vital to the business’s survival and identify potential threats that could impact these areas. 

5. Carry on risk assessments across different areas

Evaluate the likelihood and impact of identified threats on each critical function. This assessment helps in prioritizing the risks and planning accordingly.

6. Conduct a business impact analysis (BIA)

Perform a BIA to understand the potential consequences of disruption to critical business functions. It has to be done in determining the maximum acceptable downtime and the resources needed for business continuity.

7. Start drafting the plan

Compile the information gathered into a structured document. The plan should include emergency contact information, recovery strategies and detailed action steps for different scenarios.

8. Test the plan for any gaps

Conduct simulations or tabletop exercises to test the plan’s effectiveness. This testing can reveal unforeseen gaps or weaknesses in the plan.

9. Review & revise your plan

Use the insights gained from testing to refine and update the plan. Continual revision ensures the plan remains relevant and effective in the face of changing business conditions and emerging threats.

Read Also: How to Write a Business Plan Outline [Examples + Templates]

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) should ideally be reviewed and updated at least annually. 

The annual review ensures that the plan remains relevant and effective in the face of new challenges and changes within the business, such as shifts in business strategy, introduction of new technology or changes in operational processes. 

Additionally, it’s crucial to reassess the BCP following any significant business changes, such as mergers, acquisitions or entry into new markets, as well as after the occurrence of any major incident that tested the plan’s effectiveness. 

However, in rapidly changing industries or in businesses that face a high degree of uncertainty or frequent changes, more frequent reviews – such as bi-annually or quarterly – may be necessary. 

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) are two crucial components of organizational preparedness, yet they serve different functions. The BCP is aimed at preventing interruptions to business operations and maintaining regular activities. 

It focuses on aspects such as the location of operations during a crisis (like a temporary office or remote work), how staff will communicate and which functions are prioritized. In essence, a BCP details how a business can continue operating during and after a disruption​​​​.

On the other hand, a DRP is more specific to restoring data access and IT infrastructure after a disaster. It describes the steps that employees must follow during and after a disaster to ensure minimal function necessary for the organization to continue. 

Essentially, while a BCP is about maintaining operations, a DRP is about restoring critical functions, particularly IT-related, after a disruption has occurred​

It’s clear that having a robust and adaptable business continuity plan (BCP) is not just a strategic advantage but a fundamental necessity for businesses of all sizes and sectors. 

From small businesses to large corporations, the principles of effective business continuity planning remain consistent: identify potential threats, assess the impact on critical functions, and develop a comprehensive strategy to maintain operations during and after a disruption.

The process of writing a BCP, as detailed in this article, underscores the importance of a thorough and thoughtful approach. It’s about more than just drafting a document; it’s about creating a living framework that evolves with your business and the changing landscape of risks.

To assist in this crucial task, you can use Venngage’s business plan maker & their business continuity plan templates . These tools streamline the process of creating a BCP, ensuring that it is not only comprehensive but also clear, accessible and easy to implement. 

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The Bottom Line

What is a business continuity plan (bcp), and how does it work.

business continuity plan email to employees

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

What Is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)? 

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a system of prevention and recovery from potential threats to a company. The plan ensures that personnel and assets are protected and are able to function quickly in the event of a disaster.

Key Takeaways

  • Business continuity plans (BCPs) are prevention and recovery systems for potential threats, such as natural disasters or cyber-attacks.
  • BCP is designed to protect personnel and assets and make sure they can function quickly when disaster strikes.
  • BCPs should be tested to ensure there are no weaknesses, which can be identified and corrected.

Understanding Business Continuity Plans (BCPs)

BCP involves defining any and all risks that can affect the company's operations, making it an important part of the organization's risk management strategy. Risks may include natural disasters—fire, flood, or weather-related events—and cyber-attacks . Once the risks are identified, the plan should also include:

  • Determining how those risks will affect operations
  • Implementing safeguards and procedures to mitigate the risks
  • Testing procedures to ensure they work
  • Reviewing the process to make sure that it is up to date

BCPs are an important part of any business. Threats and disruptions mean a loss of revenue and higher costs, which leads to a drop in profitability. And businesses can't rely on insurance alone because it doesn't cover all the costs and the customers who move to the competition. It is generally conceived in advance and involves input from key stakeholders and personnel.

Business impact analysis, recovery, organization, and training are all steps corporations need to follow when creating a Business Continuity Plan.

Benefits of a Business Continuity Plan

Businesses are prone to a host of disasters that vary in degree from minor to catastrophic. Business continuity planning is typically meant to help a company continue operating in the event of major disasters such as fires. BCPs are different from a disaster recovery plan, which focuses on the recovery of a company's information technology system after a crisis.

Consider a finance company based in a major city. It may put a BCP in place by taking steps including backing up its computer and client files offsite. If something were to happen to the company's corporate office, its satellite offices would still have access to important information.

An important point to note is that BCP may not be as effective if a large portion of the population is affected, as in the case of a disease outbreak. Nonetheless, BCPs can improve risk management—preventing disruptions from spreading. They can also help mitigate downtime of networks or technology, saving the company money.

How To Create a Business Continuity Plan

There are several steps many companies must follow to develop a solid BCP. They include:

  • Business Impact Analysis : Here, the business will identify functions and related resources that are time-sensitive. (More on this below.)
  • Recovery : In this portion, the business must identify and implement steps to recover critical business functions.
  • Organization : A continuity team must be created. This team will devise a plan to manage the disruption.
  • Training : The continuity team must be trained and tested. Members of the team should also complete exercises that go over the plan and strategies.

Companies may also find it useful to come up with a checklist that includes key details such as emergency contact information, a list of resources the continuity team may need, where backup data and other required information are housed or stored, and other important personnel.

Along with testing the continuity team, the company should also test the BCP itself. It should be tested several times to ensure it can be applied to many different risk scenarios . This will help identify any weaknesses in the plan which can then be corrected.

In order for a business continuity plan to be successful, all employees—even those who aren't on the continuity team—must be aware of the plan.

Business Continuity Impact Analysis

An important part of developing a BCP is a business continuity impact analysis. It identifies the effects of disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses the information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.

FEMA provides an operational and financial impact worksheet to help run a business continuity analysis. The worksheet should be completed by business function and process managers who are well acquainted with the business. These worksheets will summarize the following:

  • The impacts—both financial and operational—that stem from the loss of individual business functions and process
  • Identifying when the loss of a function or process would result in the identified business impacts

Completing the analysis can help companies identify and prioritize the processes that have the most impact on the business's financial and operational functions. The point at which they must be recovered is generally known as the “recovery time objective.”

Business Continuity Plan vs. Disaster Recovery Plan

BCPs and disaster recovery plans are similar in nature, the latter focuses on technology and information technology (IT) infrastructure. BCPs are more encompassing—focusing on the entire organization, such as customer service and supply chain. 

BCPs focus on reducing overall costs or losses, while disaster recovery plans look only at technology downtimes and related costs. Disaster recovery plans tend to involve only IT personnel—which create and manage the policy. However, BCPs tend to have more personnel trained on the potential processes. 

Why Is Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Important?

Businesses are prone to a host of disasters that vary in degree from minor to catastrophic and business continuity plans (BCPs) are an important part of any business. BCP is typically meant to help a company continue operating in the event of threats and disruptions. This could result in a loss of revenue and higher costs, which leads to a drop in profitability. And businesses can't rely on insurance alone because it doesn't cover all the costs and the customers who move to the competition.

What Should a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Include?

Business continuity plans involve identifying any and all risks that can affect the company's operations. The plan should also determine how those risks will affect operations and implement safeguards and procedures to mitigate the risks. There should also be testing procedures to ensure these safeguards and procedures work. Finally, there should be a review process to make sure that the plan is up to date.

What Is Business Continuity Impact Analysis?

An important part of developing a BCP is a business continuity impact analysis which identifies the effects of disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses the information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.

FEMA provides an operational and financial impact worksheet to help run a business continuity analysis.

These worksheets summarize the impacts—both financial and operational—that stem from the loss of individual business functions and processes. They also identify when the loss of a function or process would result in the identified business impacts.

Business continuity plans (BCPs) are created to help speed up the recovery of an organization filling a threat or disaster. The plan puts in place mechanisms and functions to allow personnel and assets to minimize company downtime. BCPs cover all organizational risks should a disaster happen, such as flood or fire.  

Federal Emergency Management Agency. " Business Process Analysis and Business Impact Analysis User Guide ." Pages 15 - 17.

Ready. “ IT Disaster Recovery Plan .”

Federal Emergency Management Agency. " Business Process Analysis and Business Impact Analysis User Guide ." Pages 15-17.

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Karma Advisory

How to Ensure Business Continuity During Employee Departure

by Krishan Patel | Mar 12, 2021 | Execution Services | 0 comments

Business Continuity Plan

Maintaining “business as usual” after a major disruption in your organization is a challenge.

These disruptions aren’t in your project or yearly portfolio plan. Nor have you aligned resources to overcome.

Disruptions may result from a variety of events. Natural disasters, enterprise technology failures, cyberattacks are a few common ones that come to mind.

But, losing a key resource in your organization – along with their depth of critical system knowledge – is also a significant disruption to the way business is conducted. And this scenario may be more common and struggled with than any of the other potential disturbances to the balance of your organization.

A business continuity plan will help you overcome disruptions that your organizations will face. But, does your business continuity plan include employee departure?

What is business continuity?

The term business continuity refers to how your organization maintains business functions in the event of a disruption. Power outages, natural disasters, cyberattacks and other events that affect your enterprise are common culprits.

But, business continuity also refers to maintaining business functions during smaller scale disruptions. Employee departures may not seem as scary as a cyberattack, but their impact on business functions can be monumental.

Why business continuity is important

Unless you’re a soothsayer, there are going to be disruptions to your organization that you simply won’t see coming. Disruptions that you can’t prepare for.

Or, can you prepare for them?

Well, the answer is yes . In fact, being unprepared is the last thing that you should let happen. Resulting in downtime for the business functions you support.

Picture this… One of your most experienced Business Analysts comes in tomorrow with their 2-week departure notice in hand. This BA has owned your organization’s system of record since it was implemented over 7 years ago.

Will you maintain business as usual when that employee leaves in 10 business days? If the answer is no, then you need to create a business continuity plan. Keep reading to find out how to create a business continuity plan for employee departure.

How to Maintain Business Continuity During Employee Departure

You aren’t just losing a resource when an employee is exiting. You’re also losing their existing knowledge, experience, and informed ideas.

But, with swift and calculated actions, you can create a smooth transition. Business continuity is the goal in any employee exit. And you should treat this employee departure as any other project your organization is executing at a given time.

Here are the steps you need to take to reach that goal and maintain business as usual.

business continuity plan email to employees

Step 1: Replacement Identification and Onboarding

The type of resource you choose to replace your departing employee will differ based on your situation.

Internally distributing responsibilities will be the quickest way to transition and distribute knowledge. But, there are obvious cons such as overloading current employees.

The hiring process can be lengthy for an external employee. Likely, your newly hired employee won’t have much, if any, overlap with your departing resource.

If this is your situation, we suggest identifying an existing resource in your organization who can lead the steps in this transition plan. Once your new employee is onboarded, you should have a base of knowledge and documentation to hand off to them.

This isn’t going to be a guide on hiring the right employee. If you’re looking for some details on how to hire the best, here are some tips .

But, you do need to identify a replacement resource. The quicker you can do this the better.

Step 2: Knowledge Transfer

Knowledge transfer is the method of capturing responsibilities, ideas, skills and personal knowledge from one or more individuals and sharing between one or more other individuals within an organization.

“Knowledge” isn’t just what is in a person’s head. It’s also what they do. Including, the activities and responsibilities they perform in order to meet operational objectives.

This step is so vital to maintain business continuity during an employee departure that we wrote an entire article on it: Knowledge Transfer: An Approach for Executing it Effectively .

The knowledge transfer process is as follows:

  • Develop a knowledge transfer topic plan
  • Hold knowledge transfer sessions
  • Document and distribute knowledge

The goal of this knowledge transfer step is to transform individual knowledge into shared organizational knowledge. So, even though you’re losing a resource, you’re not losing the individual knowledge stored in their head.

Move on to the next step to learn how to deliver and distribute shared knowledge.

Step 3: Shared Knowledge Deliverable Creation

As you work through knowledge transfer and executing your business continuity plan, you need to keep in mind the deliverables that are needed for your organization to continue business as usual. A shared knowledge base – filled with the information gained throughout the knowledge transfer process – should be the primary deliverable on your list.

Think of this knowledge base as a one-stop shop for everything related to systems and/or processes owned by your departing employee. Anyone in your organization should be able to access the knowledge base after your departing employee’s final day and carry out one of the tasks they used to perform.

If you would like to learn more about deliverable creation, we talk more about it in the Knowledge Transfer: An Approach for Executing it Effectively article.

Last, but not least, it’s important that you engage the rest of the organization.

Step 4: Operational Team Engagement

Your experienced, knowledgeable departing employee really knew how to give business users that fuzzy feeling of comfort when working through system issues. They knew if an issue arose, it would be resolved quickly.

Now that their favorite technical support is departing, you’ll need to spend some time and effort getting your business organization comfortable with the transition.

Depending on your organization and the phase at which your employee is departing, one approach that we have found works well is the re-kickoff method .

Re-kickoff Method

The situation has changed. And it’s time to level set with your business organization.

The re-kickoff method allows you to re-initiate a project and/or application support. You can treat your employee departure as an opportunity to review the project/system charter, current status, project stakeholders, and communication with your business team.

In addition, use this opportunity to communicate the transition plan and upcoming objectives for the project as a whole. If feasible, show off your newly created knowledge base. This will show that knowledge has not been lost with your departing employee. And it will increase trust in the transition.

You can execute this method through a simple re-kick off meeting with your business organization to review project / system:

  • Current status
  • Stakeholders and roles/responsibilities
  • Communication plan
  • Knowledge Base
  • Upcoming objectives and the transition plan

Replacement Employee Engagement

In addition to re-kickoff the project as a whole, it’s important for your replacement employee to increase communication with your operational business team.

Whether it’s 1-on-1 meetings with the business leads or small team discussions, your replacement employee needs to initiate an open line of communication. Understanding how your business users interact with the technology, what concerns/questions they have about the transition, and how they can report issues will go a long way in building trust.

Case Study: Maintaining Business Continuity During Business Analyst Departure

business continuity plan email to employees

A business analyst / project manager for a public sector organization’s system of record is departing in two weeks. They have served as the system owner since it was implemented over 7 years ago. They have a breadth of technical and programmatic knowledge.

Complicating Factors

Although they are not fully rolling off of the project for two weeks, their time is limited since they have rolled onto another project. The organization has been allotted 1 hour each day over the next two weeks for knowledge transfer.

In addition, the system that they owned is developed by a vendor, so internal technical knowledge is limited.

The organization was able to leverage their close relationship with Karma Advisory to quickly onboard a replacement who was already part of their firm.

This individual had experience working on similar systems in a public sector environment. They were able to utilize this experience to quickly onboard, build and execute the employee transition plan, and manage the knowledge transfer process.

Step 2 and 3: Knowledge Transfer and Deliverable Creation

Knowledge transfer sessions were used to capture the responsibilities, system knowledge, and processes of the departing employee.

First, a topic coverage tracker was created and managed all the topics that were to be covered during the knowledge transfer sessions. The topics in the tracker were prioritized and updated as each were covered. In addition, the location of any notes and/or screen recordings were documented in the tracker.

As part of the knowledge transfer sessions – 1-hour sessions for 2 weeks – meeting notes and screen recordings were used to document the details about each of the covered topics. These were stored in an accessible shared folder location.

The meeting notes, recordings and topic tracker were then used to build out a system knowledge base . Microsoft OneNote was utilized to detail recurring operational processes with screenshots, the steps to complete key system tasks, technical architecture, and other general information about the system that the employee owned. The knowledge base was saved to a SharePoint location and made accessible to the rest of the organization.

The organization utilized a re-kickoff approach to engage the business teams that depended on the system. A separate kickoff meeting was held for each of the main business teams to review current project status, key stakeholders, roles and responsibilities, and next steps in the project plan.

To further gain trust with the business teams, the replacement employee held individual meetings with the business leads to capture how they use the system, what questions or concerns they have about the transition, and what they can expect in terms of communication moving forward.

Do You Have a Key Employee Departing?

Losing an employee is never easy. On top of that, maintaining business continuity during their departure is even more challenging.

But, now you have the process to overcome this disruption to your organization. It’s now a matter of executing it to support your business functions. Remember, business as usual means, well, business as usual. No frantic emails, unmet deadlines, or heightened stress levels.

Do you need help maintaining business continuity? Don’t worry, we’ve been there before. And we’d love to help. Reach out to Karma Advisory by emailing [email protected].

For a Conversation on Business Continuity, Check Out the Karma Insights Podcast

Also published on Medium .

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Business Continuity Planning

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Organize a business continuity team and compile a  business continuity plan  to manage a business disruption. Learn more about how to put together and test a business continuity plan with the videos below.

Business Continuity Plan Supporting Resources

  • Business Continuity Plan Situation Manual
  • Business Continuity Plan Test Exercise Planner Instructions
  • Business Continuity Plan Test Facilitator and Evaluator Handbook

Business Continuity Training Videos

The Business Continuity Planning Suite is no longer supported or available for download.

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Business Continuity Training Introduction

An overview of the concepts detailed within this training. Also, included is a humorous, short video that introduces viewers to the concept of business continuity planning and highlights the benefits of having a plan. Two men in an elevator experience a spectrum of disasters from a loss of power, to rain, fire, and a human threat. One man is prepared for each disaster and the other is not.

View on YouTube

Business Continuity Training Part 1: What is Business Continuity Planning?

An explanation of what business continuity planning means and what it entails to create a business continuity plan. This segment also incorporates an interview with a company that has successfully implemented a business continuity plan and includes a discussion about what business continuity planning means to them.

Business Continuity Training Part 2: Why is Business Continuity Planning Important?

An examination of the value a business continuity plan can bring to an organization. This segment also incorporates an interview with a company that has successfully implemented a business continuity plan and includes a discussion about how business continuity planning has been valuable to them.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: What's the Business Continuity Planning Process?

An overview of the business continuity planning process. This segment also incorporates an interview with a company about its process of successfully implementing a business continuity plan.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 1

The first of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “prepare” to create a business continuity plan.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 2

The second of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “define” their business continuity plan objectives.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 3

The third of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “identify” and prioritize potential risks and impacts.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 4

The fourth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “develop” business continuity strategies.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 5

The fifth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should define their “teams” and tasks.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 6

The sixth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “test” their business continuity plans. View on YouTube

Last Updated: 12/21/2023

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IR-2024-45, Feb. 21, 2024

WASHINGTON — During the busiest time of the tax filing season, the Internal Revenue Service kicked off its 2024 Tax Time Guide series to help remind taxpayers of key items they’ll need to file a 2023 tax return.

As part of its four-part, weekly Tax Time Guide series, the IRS continues to provide new and updated resources to help taxpayers file an accurate tax return. Taxpayers can count on IRS.gov for updated resources and tools along with a special free help page available around the clock. Taxpayers are also encouraged to read Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax (For Individuals) for additional guidance.

Essentials to filing an accurate tax return

The deadline this tax season for filing Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return , or 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return for Seniors , is April 15, 2024. However, those who live in Maine or Massachusetts will have until April 17, 2024, to file due to official holidays observed in those states.

Taxpayers are advised to wait until they receive all their proper tax documents before filing their tax returns. Filing without all the necessary documents could lead to mistakes and potential delays.

It’s important for taxpayers to carefully review their documents for any inaccuracies or missing information. If any issues are found, taxpayers should contact the payer immediately to request a correction or confirm that the payer has their current mailing or email address on file.

Creating an IRS Online Account can provide taxpayers with secure access to information about their federal tax account, including payment history, tax records and other important information.

Having organized tax records can make the process of preparing a complete and accurate tax return easier and may also help taxpayers identify any overlooked deductions or credits .

Taxpayers who have an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number or ITIN may need to renew it if it has expired and is required for a U.S. federal tax return. If an expiring or expired ITIN is not renewed, the IRS can still accept the tax return, but it may result in processing delays or delays in credits owed.

Changes to credits and deductions for tax year 2023

Standard deduction amount increased. For 2023, the standard deduction amount has been increased for all filers. The amounts are:

  • Single or married filing separately — $13,850.
  • Head of household — $20,800.
  • Married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse — $27,700.

Additional child tax credit amount increased. The maximum additional child tax credit amount has increased to $1,600 for each qualifying child.

Child tax credit enhancements. Many changes to the Child tax credit (CTC) that had been implemented by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 have expired.

However, the IRS continues to closely monitor legislation being considered by Congress affecting the Child Tax Credit. The IRS reminds taxpayers eligible for the Child Tax Credit that they should not wait to file their 2023 tax return this filing season. If Congress changes the CTC guidelines, the IRS will automatically make adjustments for those who have already filed so no additional action will be needed by those eligible taxpayers.

Under current law, for tax year 2023, the following currently apply:

  • The enhanced credit allowed for qualifying children under age 6 and children under age 18 has expired. For 2023, the initial amount of the CTC is $2,000 for each qualifying child. The credit amount begins to phase out where AGI income exceeds $200,000 ($400,000 in the case of a joint return). The amount of the CTC that can be claimed as a refundable credit is limited as it was in 2020 except that the maximum ACTC amount for each qualifying child increased to $1,500.
  • The increased age allowance for a qualifying child has expired. A child must be under age 17 at the end of 2023 to be a qualifying child.

Changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The enhancements for taxpayers without a qualifying child implemented by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 will not apply for tax year 2023. To claim the EITC without a qualifying child in 2023, taxpayers must be at least age 25 but under age 65 at the end of 2023. If a taxpayer is married filing a joint return, one spouse must be at least age 25 but under age 65 at the end of 2023.

Taxpayers may find more information on Child tax credits in the Instructions for Schedule 8812 (Form 1040) .

New Clean Vehicle Credit. The credit for new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles has changed. This credit is now known as the Clean Vehicle Credit. The maximum amount of the credit and some of the requirements to claim the credit have changed. The credit is reported on Form 8936, Qualified Plug-In Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit , and on Form 1040, Schedule 3.

More information on these and other credit and deduction changes for tax year 2023 may be found in the Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax (For Individuals) , taxpayer guide.

1099-K reporting requirements have not changed for tax year 2023

Following feedback from taxpayers, tax professionals and payment processors, and to reduce taxpayer confusion, the IRS recently released Notice 2023-74 announcing a delay of the new $600 reporting threshold for tax year 2023 on Form 1099-K, Payment Card and Third-Party Network Transactions . The previous reporting thresholds will remain in place for 2023.

The IRS has published a fact sheet with further information to assist taxpayers concerning changes to 1099-K reporting requirements for tax year 2023.

Form 1099-K reporting requirements

Taxpayers who take direct payment by credit, debit or gift cards for selling goods or providing services by customers or clients should get a Form 1099-K from their payment processor or payment settlement entity no matter how many payments they got or how much they were for.

If they used a payment app or online marketplace and received over $20,000 from over 200 transactions,

the payment app or online marketplace is required to send a Form 1099-K. However, they can send a Form 1099-K with lower amounts. Whether or not the taxpayer receives a Form 1099-K, they must still report any income on their tax return.

What’s taxable? It’s the profit from these activities that’s taxable income. The Form 1099-K shows the gross or total amount of payments received. Taxpayers can use it and other records to figure out the actual taxes they owe on any profits. Remember that all income, no matter the amount, is taxable unless the tax law says it isn’t – even if taxpayers don’t get a Form 1099-K.

What’s not taxable? Taxpayers shouldn’t receive a Form 1099-K for personal payments, including money received as a gift and for repayment of shared expenses. That money isn’t taxable. To prevent getting an inaccurate Form 1099-K, note those payments as “personal,” if possible.

Good recordkeeping is key. Be sure to keep good records because it helps when it’s time to file a tax return. It’s a good idea to keep business and personal transactions separate to make it easier to figure out what a taxpayer owes.

For details on what to do if a taxpayer gets a Form 1099-K in error or the information on their form is incorrect, visit IRS.gov/1099k  or find frequently asked questions at Form 1099-K FAQs .

Direct File pilot program provides a new option this year for some

The IRS launched the Direct File pilot program during the 2024 tax season. The pilot will give eligible taxpayers an option to prepare and electronically file their 2023 tax returns, for free, directly with the IRS.

The Direct File pilot program will be offered to eligible taxpayers in 12 pilot states who have relatively simple tax returns reporting only certain types of income and claiming limited credits and deductions. The 12 states currently participating in the Direct File pilot program are Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington state and Wyoming. Taxpayers can check their eligibility at directfile.irs.gov .

The Direct File pilot is currently in the internal testing phase and will be more widely available in mid-March. Taxpayers can get the latest news about the pilot at Direct File pilot news and sign up to be notified when Direct File is open to new users.

Finally, for comprehensive information on all these and other changes for tax year 2023, taxpayers and tax professionals are encouraged to read the Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax (For Individuals) , taxpayer guide, as well as visit other topics of taxpayer interest on IRS.gov.

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Trump Organization says $364 million fraud ruling will fuel the 'exodus of companies from New York' — but Trump's frauds may make him an outlier

  • The Trump Organization, Trump, and lieutenants face a $364 million judgment in a civil fraud case.
  • The company said the ruling will cause the "exodus" of other New York businesses.
  • But several factors, including the extent of Trump's fraud, could make him an outlier.

Insider Today

After former President Donald Trump was hit with a nearly $355 million judgment in his civil fraud case, the Trump Organization said the ruling could cause businesses to flee the state of New York for fear of being targeted.

"Today's ruling is a gross miscarriage of justice," a spokesperson for the Trump Organization said in a statement after the ruling, adding, "Every member of the New York business community, no matter the industry, should be gravely concerned with this gross overreach and brazen attempt by the Attorney General to exert limitless power where no private or public harm has been established."

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordered Trump, his sons, and former CFO Allen Weisselberg to pay a total cash penalty of $364 million for their roles in manipulating the value of their assets in order to get better deals on loans.

Interest could add another $100 million to the total, New York Attorney General Letitia James told reporters on Friday in a celebratory statement that called Trump's ego "staggering."

The judgment also says Trump cannot run any businesses in New York for three years, while his sons Eric and Don Jr. are barred for two years, among other penalties.

Trump denounced the verdict and denied wrongdoing in the case, which resulted from a yearslong investigation by James.

"If allowed to stand, this ruling will only further expedite the continuing exodus of companies from New York," the Trump Organization spokesperson said.

Trump's fraud case is extreme, according to the judge

But Trump's proven frauds are so extreme — the judge found he added more than $2 billion to his bottom line each year, in a decade of annual financial statements — that some experts say his getting caught and punished likely won't impact other businesses.

"This decision is unprecedented, but I don't think we'll necessarily see similar cases against other individuals," Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Business Insider. "Trump is unique in that he stubbornly thumbs his nose at our justice system and finds himself in legal turmoil. Sometimes, it's better to cooperate with authorities or to settle a civil lawsuit rather than fight a losing battle."

Instead, Rahmani said Trump again chose to litigate a losing case.

The judge in the fraud trial basically said as much. In his 92-page verdict , Engoron hammered in on Trump's refusal to admit any errors.

"Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological," he wrote. "They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin. Defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways."

The judge also noted that this was not the first time the Trump Organization or related entities had been found to have engaged in fraud, citing prior cases, including one that involved Trump University.

"This is not defendants' first rodeo," Engoron wrote.

It's also worth noting the exceptional circumstances that led to the investigation into the Trump Organization.

While running for attorney general in 2018, James promised to aggressively investigate Trump's business dealings.

The fraud investigation that led to this ruling started in 2019 after Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez questioned former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen during a congressional hearing.

When Ocasio-Cortez pressed Cohen on whether Trump had ever inflated assets to an insurance company, he answered affirmatively.

James later credited the exchange with kicking off the probe .

"I will remind everyone that this investigation only started after Michael Cohen, the former lawyer, his former lawyer, testified before Congress and shed light on this misconduct," James said in 2022.

So don't expect New York businesses to pack their bags and ship out to New Jersey anytime soon over this.

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Watch: Trump fights back as fraud trial begins

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  1. 7 Free Business Continuity Plan Templates

    business continuity plan email to employees

  2. Business Continuity Plan Template in Word and Pdf formats

    business continuity plan email to employees

  3. Building a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

    business continuity plan email to employees

  4. Business continuity plan template in Word and Pdf formats

    business continuity plan email to employees

  5. Free Template: how to write an ISO 22301 business continuity plan

    business continuity plan email to employees

  6. 7 Free Business Continuity Plan Templates

    business continuity plan email to employees

COMMENTS

  1. [Email Template] Business Continuity Plan Compliance

    What: The email is a notification of the company's business continuity plan (BCP) and a reminder to employees to comply with the plan. Why: The purpose of the email is to ensure that all employees are aware of the BCP and that they know what to do in the event of a business disruption. Who: The email is addressed to all employees. When:

  2. Communicating Your Business Continuity Plan: Public Or ...

    Is there a risk to sharing your business continuity plan details? Yes. Sharing business intelligence has inherent risks and you should not share the full business continuity plan with just anyone - even trusted department leaders. In many cases, the BCC will maintain a master business continuity plan document - that houses possible scenarios, individual and departmental responsibilities ...

  3. Business Continuity Plan: Example & How to Write

    1. BCP Team In the midst of a disaster or emergency, having a team or point person to go to will be essential. The BCP team will be responsible for planning and testing business continuity strategies. Background of each member in the BCP team can vary from organization managers or supervisors to specialists. 2. Business Impact Analysis

  4. What Is A Business Continuity Plan? [+ Template & Examples]

    Published: December 30, 2022 When a business crisis occurs, the last thing you want to do is panic. The second-to-last thing you want to do is be unprepared. Crises typically arise without warning. While you shouldn't start every day expecting the worst, you should be relatively prepared for anything to happen.

  5. How to craft an effective business continuity plan

    Get the word out. Iterate and improve. 1. Analyze your company. In this phase you conduct an analysis to identify critical activities, determine which activities must continue, which can be temporarily paused, and which can operate at a reduced capacity. You then assess the financial impact of disruptions.

  6. A step-by-Step Guide to Writing an Effective Business Continuity Plan

    We've prepared an example business continuity plan to get you started. 1. Objective of the plan. Open with a short summary of the 'why' behind the how. Explain clearly and succinctly that the aim of your business continuity plan is to protect your business in the event of a disruption to business-critical processes. 2.

  7. Three Ways To Put People First And Ensure Business Continuity ...

    "Business as usual" for employees is impossible in times of unprecedented disruption. Even after intensive planning that goes into an organization's business continuity plan, when push...

  8. Effectively communicating your business continuity

    Get to know the upcoming changes in Yahoo & Google inbox standards. When setbacks arrive and uncertainty disrupts our daily lives, your business continuity plan is going to be indispensable. An effective plan will help you maintain 'business as usual', even during the most challenging times.

  9. How to Create an Effective Business Continuity Plan

    Here are several steps to train and educate employees about the Business Continuity Plan: Awareness Campaign: Start by raising awareness about the importance of a Business Continuity Plan. Explain what it is, why it matters, and how it can protect the business and their jobs in the event of a disruption.

  10. Developing an emergency communications plan: A template for business

    External emergency communications that should be part of a business continuity and resilience plan include how to notify family members of an injury or death, discuss the disaster with the media and provide status information to key clients and stakeholders. The emergency coordinator must ensure that each message is prepared with the audience -- employees, media, families, government ...

  11. What is Business Continuity Planning?

    Overview What is business continuity? Business continuity is the ability for an organzation to continue to be productive during a disruptive incident.

  12. What Is a Business Continuity Plan? [+ Template]

    Category Emergency Management Jan 27, 2023 What Is a Business Continuity Plan? What to Expect From the Process Your business shouldn't shut down when an emergency hits. But with a thorough business continuity plan template, you can keep your people safe and stay operational through whatever crisis you're hit with. Get the Guide

  13. How to write a business continuity plan template

    A business continuity plan (BCP) is a roadmap for long-term success that factors in common pitfalls and risks. A business continuity plan template ensures that you dot your Is and cross your Ts, and craft a reliable plan to handle unexpected events or disasters. The template will include fields for filling in information on your current ...

  14. Checklist for continuity with a remote workforce

    Securing the human training can be delivered remotely to ensure that employees remember and follow the organization's security practices. 3. Identity and access management: Beef up identity and access management for remote workers through methods such as multifactor authentication. 4. Data protection: Ensure that security is extended and ...

  15. Business continuity strategy: Employees are the vital link!

    Large amounts of money are invested in commissioning recovery sites and building redundancy into networks and systems, as part of the overall business continuity planning process. However ...

  16. Template for an Effective Business Continuity Plan

    It's also critical to have technological systems in place to support and enable your company and employees in the face of rapidly changing conditions. Download this whitepaper to get tips on business continuity planning to help you understand how you can disaster-proof your business for the future and a template that you can copy and customize.

  17. Business Continuity Planning: Why You Need It and Why It Is So Important

    Published by Orgvue November 20, 2023 Home > Resources > article > Business Continuity Planning: Ensuring the Resilience of Your Organization In an unpredictable world, the ability to sustain your business's essential functions and operations, even in the face of disruptions, is paramount.

  18. Business Continuity & Email Security: A BC Professional's Guide to Safety

    Obviously, the responsibility for setting up the email system and establishing the company's email policies lies with other departments. However, business continuity managers should make it their business to understand the risks associated with email. They can also act as advocates within the company for safe email practices.

  19. Email Archiving and Business Continuity Planning

    Posted on 16 March 2022 Ask yourself the following questions! What is a business continuity plan (BCP) Why might hardware or software systems fail? The Importance of Uninterrupted Access to Email and Data. How does email archiving help? Email Archiving v's Back up The Importance of Continuity in the Time of Remote Working

  20. 7 Business Continuity Plan Examples

    6. Conduct a business impact analysis (BIA) Perform a BIA to understand the potential consequences of disruption to critical business functions. It has to be done in determining the maximum acceptable downtime and the resources needed for business continuity. 7. Start drafting the plan.

  21. What Is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP), and How Does It Work?

    Business Continuity Planning - BCP: The business continuity planning (BCP) is the creation of a strategy through the recognition of threats and risks facing a company, with an eye to ensure that ...

  22. How to Ensure Business Continuity During Employee Departure

    This step is so vital to maintain business continuity during an employee departure that we wrote an entire article on it: Knowledge Transfer: An Approach for Executing it Effectively. The knowledge transfer process is as follows: Develop a knowledge transfer topic plan. Hold knowledge transfer sessions.

  23. Business Continuity Planning

    Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 1 The first of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should "prepare" to create a business continuity plan. View on YouTube

  24. How To Ensure Business Continuity In The Face Of Internet ...

    Artificial intelligence (AI) can be further leveraged for business continuity, with a 2022 Deloitte survey revealing that 76% of respondents plan to increase investments in AI to gain more ...

  25. Disability Income Insurance for Business Owners

    Designed to replace 60% or more of income to help you pay your bills, mortgage payments and other critical expenses—individual disability income insurance allows you to take less money out of your business at a vulnerable time and still help preserve your standard of living. Maintain business continuity. Your business counts on your leadership.

  26. Tax Time Guide 2024: What to know before completing a tax return

    IR-2024-45, Feb. 21, 2024. WASHINGTON — During the busiest time of the tax filing season, the Internal Revenue Service kicked off its 2024 Tax Time Guide series to help remind taxpayers of key items they'll need to file a 2023 tax return.

  27. Trump's fraud case is extreme, according to the judge

    An image of a chain link. It symobilizes a website link url. Copy Link After former President Donald Trump was hit with a nearly $355 million judgment in his civil fraud case, the Trump ...