Business continuity

Business continuity is the process of planning to ensure that your business can return to business as usual as quickly as possible following major disruption or emergency.

A disaster can strike any time, and affect any organisation large or small. It can be power outage, flood, fire, ICT failure among other things. It is recommended that every organisation should have some level of business continuity planning.

The Bedfordshire Prepared website has practical information for businesses on how to plan for emergencies or you can visit the Business Continuity Institute for further information.

If you are a business or venue and would like information related to Covid-19, you can find further information on our coronavirus business advice page.

Figures released by the Federation of Small Businesses show that up to 80% of businesses affected by a major incident close within 18 months, while 90% of businesses that lose data from a disaster are forced to shut down within two years.

How your business can prepare

Having a Business Continuity Plan in place will promote confidence both in your staff and your customers that you have made plans to cover emergencies.

A Business Continuity Plan does not have to be complex; it is simply a set of instructions of what to do at the time of a crisis. The plan should set out clear roles and responsibilities and list a series of actions which allow key business activities to continue in the most difficult circumstances.

There is a 5 step guide to get you started with your Business Continuity planning:

  1. Analyse your business
  2. Assess the risks
  3. Plan and prepare
  4. Communicate your plan
  5. Testing your plan