Why I.T. is key to Business Continuity Planning
Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is the process of ensuring that a business has the correct procedures and action plans in place in the event of operational disruption. The aim of the plan put robust prevention and recovery methods in place to ensure that business operations can continue, regardless of the interruption. Whilst I.T. is just one aspect of Business Continuity Planning, with businesses heavily reliant on IT systems for the deployment of their operational activity, it is important that I.T. systems are carefully considered and included within the process.
When undertaking your Business Continuity Planning, we recommend working collaboratively with your I.T. department or outsourced service provider. Including these stakeholders at the outset of the planning stage will ensure that business-critical infrastructure and systems are captured within the plan and prevention/mitigation measures put in place if they are disrupted.
Throughout the planning process, certain key I.T. areas must be considered, these include:
- Hosting: How an organisation’s I.T system is hosted can have an impact on business continuity in the event of a disruption. For example, a power cut may impact the hosting of a physical server, whereas a loss in internet connectivity could impact a cloud-based hosting system. When selecting a hosting system, it is important to consider the impact a disruption may have on operations.
- Backup and Recovery: If a system fails, or key information or data is lost it is important to plan your recovery and backup processes. This involves deciding where the back-ups are held, how frequently they back up and the process for restoration in the event information/data is lost.
- Connectivity: The connectivity of your people and services is fundamental to the operation of any business, losing connectivity or experience an internet outage can cause severe disruption to a business’s daily operation. When assessing your connectivity and internet connections it is important to consider the impact of an outage and how secure/stable the connection is.
- Infrastructure: The security and protection of your I.T. infrastructure can act as the key differentiator between a disruption occurring or not occurring. Regularly reviewing your firewall, malware, and firmware software can help ensure that your systems stay protected from unauthorised access and disruptors.
- Capacity: Poorly managed and reviewed capacity can put additional strain on your I.T. systems, which could result in slow performance or a complete outage. It is important when planning your Business Continuity that you consider the capacity and capability of your systems to ensure they are aligned to business operations and demands.
To find out more about how Weston Analytics can help with your Business Continuity Planning please contact us at sales@westonanalytics.com or call us on 0203 854 1876
