Business Continuity Management for SMEs
By Charlie Heritage, Emergency Planning Officer, Worcestershire County Council

Some people debate for hours whether it will be a fire, flood, flu, burglary or computer virus that stops them trading. Indeed, many businesses fail to invest in business continuity precisely because they get paralysed by the likelihood of any individual disruptive event happening.

It's my view that small businesses tend to bear the brunt, disproportionately, of any disruption due to the localised impact of such incidents.

So what is the value of Business Continuity Management?

Firstly, it provides a clear view on those vulnerabilities in a business, which would be painfully exposed in the event of an emergency and lead the business into a grinding halt! The analysis helps you recognise these vulnerabilities and take action to avoid or mitigate the impact. The basis of business continuity is that if it's important then you should do something about protecting it, even if the likelihood of an event causing this disruption is uncertain.

In a scenario where you might lose critical data, possibly, payroll, staff records, or customer order information - the questions to ask in developing a response are not what caused the loss but:

• How long can you continue to function without the information?
• How would you work in the absence of the information?
• How would you recover the situation to return to business as usual?

In this case, losing confidential information carries more than the operational and direct commercial disruption, it can hurt your reputation as well.

It's important to consider the media angle when developing a Business Continuity Plan; as your response to the situation could have long term reputational consequences. It is essential to be prepared with the right messages at a time when staff, customers, suppliers and investors will be following an incident and wanting to know what it means for them.

By investing time in formalising your thinking now, you will be in a stronger position to respond to an incident should it occur. Whether it is a loss of data, as above, a supplier becoming insolvent, extended staff absence or not being able to access your main site for a period of time forward planning will limit the damage!

Finally, it's worth noting that larger companies and some public sector organisations are starting to check that their critical suppliers have business continuity plans.

Other benefits of formalising your thinking around business continuity are commercial: insurance companies like businesses with Business Continuity Plans as it means that any claim under business interruption insurance policies should be lower than clients without such plans; it may be worth asking for a discount on your premium with your broker. Equally, if you need to approach your bank for finance you are likely to be considered at less risk if you have factors business continuity into your overall business plan.

There is a wealth of information on business continuity management available, visit the Worcestershire County Council website for free impartial advice on the first steps.

FSB report from National Transport Issues Conference, July 2011

By Roger Culcheth, FSB Policy Chairman for Local Government
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