Business Continuity For SMEs – How much risk should you bear?
June 10th, 2012 by BrightCloud
In the first of three blogs on disaster recovery we look at the question many business owners ask – ‘Why should I bother to invest valuable time and money in drawing up a plan for something that might never happen?’
The simple answer is that it will reduce the operational risks to your business, and ensure your survival in the event of a major disaster. Conducting a simple risk analysis is a very easy first step.
“With so many things to think about and plan for in every business, particularly well-established stable businesses, it isn’t surprising most of the people I meet have not considered a comprehensive risk analysis. It’s interesting that every time we conduct a risk analysis with our customers we often identify something that they didn’t expect.”
Duncan Little, BrightCloud Managing Director
Each business director has a different appetite for accepting risk. Some like to gamble in the hope of gaining a higher return, while others prefer to keep their heads down and play it safe. But whatever your outlook, it is better to have as many of these risks under your control as possible. Business people should always look to reduce their risks!
Small and medium sized businesses face enormous risks in today’s highly competitive environment; it comes with the territory when running your enterprise. You might not be able to do much about the commercial risks you face, but you can certainly take steps to minimise your operational risks. Keep in mind that these risks are often related. A bad operational performance, for example, can affect customer confidence and future sales.
You Can’t Control All Risk
Not all of the risks we face are within our sphere of influence. Economic risks, for example, are part and parcel of the surrounding business environment, but disasters such as floods and earthquakes are the results of circumstances far beyond our control. Yet many types of risks are created by our own actions, or inactions. They arise from bad decisions, unconscious oversights or human errors. We can take steps to reduce these risks, though it might not be physically possible to eliminate every last one of them.
In the last 10 years the proliferation of the internet, mobile working, connectivity and the growth in computing use has created a major risk in that the majority of businesses now rely entirely on IT systems in order to continue their business. This situation is being highlighted by a number of institutions to bring business owners’ attention to the level of risk that has crept into their business with the adoption of more technology.
Nearly One in Five UK Businesses Suffers a Major Disruption Every Year
Your enterprise could very well be next. In fact, given these odds it is likely you will encounter some form of damaging incident at some point in the future.
Business continuity management will help you to ensure that your key business activities (such as sales, manufacturing, deliveries and purchasing) can be reliably carried out with minimal risk of interruption. It will also help to reduce the level of potential business damage from any form of disruption or ‘outage’, limiting your losses as well as safeguarding your reputation. Developing the capability to continue to deliver products and customer services throughout environmental hazards will help you to retain your customers and win new business. A speedy response to a disaster helps safeguard your bottom line. Business continuity management protects your business interests. It is a cornerstone of good corporate governance as well as a smart business investment.
Get a Free Business Continuity Assessment
Whilst we won’t understand your business as well as you do, our decades of IT experience means we may well understand your IT better than you. BrightCloud can build you a realistic and workable IT continuity plan, so in the event of a disaster we’ll get your IT up and running as fast as possible.
Contact us today for your free business continuity assessment.
