Business Continuity Frameworks

Synopsis

Ensure that your business continues to thrive under unfavorable conditions with our Business Continuity Frameworks deck. This presentation includes practical frameworks to help you perform better impact assessment, Risk Management, prevention and recovery strategies and protect your company.

download Download this presentation in

English (US) expand_more

• English (US)
• Deutsch

Get 10 out of 30 slides

Powerpoint Keynote Copy Google Slides

View all formats chevron_right

Microsoft Powerpoint

View all formats chevron_right

Download and customize this and hundreds of business presentation templates for free

Sign up

OR

Start for free ⬇️

Voila! You can now download this presentation

Download

Slide highlights

One of the first steps in planning for business continuity is identifying potential threats. Use this slide to list them all. The threats may include: data loss, cyberattacks, malware and viruses, network and internet disruptions and others.

With this slide, communicate your plan for business resilience. Some of the key items to include here are: business impact analysis, essential functions, vital records and resources plan, risk assessment and management plan.

Using this slide, deliver the analysis of your business' continuity management lifecycle, which includes the evaluation of program management, determining the business continuity plan (BCP) and embedding it in the organization's culture.

Overview

Business continuity planning is the process of developing systems to prevent potential risks and recover from a threat. One of the main goals of the planning is to establish continuing operations prior to and while implementing the execution of disaster recovery.

Application

Wayne Elsey, Founder and Head Coach and CEO at The Funds2Orgs Group, in his article for "Forbes Business Development Council," recommends taking these three vital steps when planning for business continuity:

1. Risk-assessment + impact analysis

According to Elsey, during the risk-assessment phase, it's essential to pinpoint and understand all the exposure risks for your venture. "By doing a business impact analysis (BIA), you can gain clarity about every potential threat to your business. The BIA will provide you with critical information, such as who your stakeholders are, your supply chain gaps, and your levels of resilience. It will also inform you about the core team that you should keep in place in the face of potential catastrophe," he writes.

Ask follow up

2. Business continuity plan construction

Once BIA and any gap analyses are ready, create your business continuity plan. "Initially, the team should create a draft document, and then they can present it to the senior executives who have to sign off on it," Elsey says. When it comes to a business continuity plan, no area of your business should be ignored. According to Elsey: "Consideration and review should move through the entire company, including every division and into each department, role and function."

Ask follow up

3. Testing and maintenance

It is important that your business continuation plan is reviewed and evaluated regularly. "I can't emphasize this enough – preparation is critical, and at moments like the present, planning is happening daily. Ultimately, it's all about coming out on top. Building relationships, having strategic discussions and developing clear messaging are key. It's also important to reframe and refocus your operations, marketing and sales strategy to fuel your revenue generation and cash flow during difficult times. For more information about business continuity planning, you can visit the Small Business Administration website or even SCORE's small business disaster preparedness resources," Elsey writes.

Ask follow up

Case study

Ransomware

According to business continuity services provider, Invenio IT, the March 2018 SamSam ransomware attack on the City of Atlanta devastated the city government's computer systems and disrupted numerous city services, police records, courts, utilities and parking services included.

Computer systems were down for five days, which required various city departments to complete important paperwork by hand. The complete recovery took several months, Invenio IT reports.

The attackers' demand was a $52,000 ransom payment, but the financial damages didn't end there – the recovery resulted in over $17 million losses (almost $3 million alone was spent on contracts for emergency IT consultants and crisis management firms).

The Atlanta ransomware attack is a bitter lesson in inadequate business continuity planning, Invenio IT states, as it uncovered the fact that the city's IT was completely unprepared for the disaster. According to "StateScoop," two months prior to the attack, an audit found 1,500 to 2,000 vulnerabilities in the city's IT systems, which were compounded by "obsolete software and an IT culture driven by 'ad hoc or undocumented' processes."

Questions and answers

How do the key topics covered in the Business Continuity Framework, such as impact assessment and risk management, enhance business strategy?

View answer

Key topics in the Business Continuity Framework, such as impact assessment and risk management, enhance business strategy by ensuring the business is prepared for potential disruptions. Impact assessment helps identify critical business functions and the potential effect of an interruption. Risk management, on the other hand, involves identifying, assessing, and controlling threats to the organization's capital and earnings. These processes help in the development of prevention and recovery strategies, thereby ensuring business continuity even under unfavorable conditions.

Can you compare the Business Continuity Framework with other business frameworks in terms of prevention and recovery strategies?

View answer

The Business Continuity Framework focuses on ensuring that a business can continue to operate under unfavorable conditions. It includes strategies for impact assessment, risk management, prevention, and recovery. Compared to other business frameworks, it places a strong emphasis on prevention and recovery strategies. For instance, it might prioritize strong password management protocols to prevent cyber attacks, as weak passwords are a common vulnerability. In terms of recovery, the framework would have protocols in place to quickly restore operations after an incident. Other business frameworks might not focus as heavily on these aspects, instead prioritizing areas like efficiency, profitability, or growth.

View all questions

Ask follow up

Experts from Invenio IT speculate that weak passwords were the main vulnerability that allowed for the attack to happen in the first place. "That is a common entry point for SamSam attackers, who use brute-force software to guess thousands of password combinations in a matter of seconds. Frankly, it's an unsophisticated method that could have been prevented with stronger password management protocols," the experts say.

Ask follow up