The creation of a Business Continuity Plan involves developing a reaction strategy for how an organization will respond to disaster. This disaster may occur through accidents, natural catastrophe such as earthquake or intentional attacks such as hacking or terrorism.
In plain English, business continuity is how your organization will maintain its operations in an emergency. A (BCP) lays out the steps an organization will take to ensure emergency preparedness, crisis management and disaster recovery.
Nowhere is BCP more important than within the Financial Services sector. It is a regulatory requirement of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) that organizations that fall under the FSA’s regulations have rigorous and robust plans to ensure business continuity during times of crisis. Organizations must consider the factors and steps required to prepare for any type of disaster, and maintain compliance with FSA regulations, even during an emergency incident.
Business Continuity Services in the UK
Most recently, the Financial Services Authority called upon UK organizations to test their business continuity planning in the light of the Swine Flu outbreak. In 2006, the FSA carried out an exercise to test the possible impact of a flu pandemic upon the financial services industry. It found that almost 50% of the UK’s financial services workforce would be absent if flu pandemic swept the nation.
Clearly, this would strenuously affect the capacity of financial institutions to carry out their operations. Companies across the UK have rapidly responded to the need for expansion to their current business continuity plans by including preparedness for a viral pandemic.
But it doesn’t need to be major emergencies that affect BC. Even temporary failure of power, security or information systems can wreak havoc on an organization. Barclays Bank recently demonstrated this, when a faulty disc array prevented customers in the South of England accessing their accounts via ATMs or through online banking portals. Clearly this indicates how even minor difficulties demonstrate a potential weakness in business continuity planning.
Of course, it’s not only the Financial Services sector that needs to put in place robust plans for managing disaster. Organisations of all sizes should plan for emergencies and devise a strategy for interim management and continued operation when unforeseen circumstances arrive.
As businesses become increasingly dependent upon technology and regulatory requirements tighten, it’s clear that business continuity planning becomes a necessary factor of doing business, rather than just an additional extra.