Managed Services Should Be Included in Your Business Continuity Plan

As technology keeps getting better and better at a fast pace, the idea of planning for business continuity, which is also called "managed services," helps your business make the best use of its resources to cover changing IT costs and reduce technical problems through constant tracking and maintenance of your network.

As the word "disaster" suggests, an unplanned event is a disaster. Even if there is some warning that a disaster is coming, organisations can still lose a lot of money. So, it is very important to have a business continuity plan that is up-to-date and has been tried. People need to know how to respond to disasters so that vital operations can keep going and there aren't too many problems.

Business continuity solutions were first used mostly by commercial banks and important government tasks. Now, organisations of all sizes use them because of the redundancy and preparedness they provide. This happens because digital information and technology are becoming more important in many fields.

What Exactly Is A Business Continuity Plan?

A plan for business continuity gives an organisation the information and steps to keep doing business or get back to work quickly after a big disruption. It should talk about:

Business partners include any part of day-to-day activities that could be interrupted by a disaster. Among these are:

• Supply chains
• Vital assets
• Workforce
• Operational procedures

Disaster recovery is only one part of planning for business survival, though it is important. A disaster recovery plan is about how to get IT infrastructure and systems back up and running after a disaster. It should list all the IT tasks in the organisation and how important each is to running the business. 

It should also include information about software licences, maintenance agreements, support contacts, what systems rely on each other, how the network works, how data is backed up and recovered, and more.

Traditional Data Backup Methods

The usual way to back up company data is to store copies of the data in a place away from the office. Even though copying databases to these extra data centres or servers is useful, it takes work on the budget, especially for smaller businesses. 

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) need the means to build a backup data centre. Also, once the backup data centre is set up, you have to take care of the systems and networks that go with it, which is a big job in and of itself. There is a more effective, modern way to back up your information that doesn't require you to buy extra gear or go through a complicated setup process.

Why Use An It Services Provider For Business Continuity?

The best-managed IT services company is an experienced collaborator who works directly with your team to align your technology and business goals. Because of this long-term consulting role, a skilled MSP is a good choice to take the lead in making a business continuity plan.

Dealing with an experienced MSP with proven experience with BC planning takes a lot of stress off of your staff and ensures that the plan is handled well at every stage of its lifecycle.

Process of Business Continuity Planning

A business continuity plan is an arrangement of steps to keep an organisation running even if something bad happens. A business continuity plan aims to keep processes running as much as possible, even if something bad happens. Senior management should make and regularly review a business survival plan that works. It has thorough plans for every important part of the business.

The plan for business continuity is made up of the following steps:

• Find out what could go wrong with the business.
• Find out how dangerous each threat is.
• Create plans to reduce the risks.
• Use the plan to reduce risks.
• Check the plan every so often.

How to Create a Business Continuity Strategy

The first stage in business continuity planning is to identify the risks facing the company and gain a thorough understanding of what those risks entail.

• Can you find and stop a hack quickly?
• What if you couldn't connect to the Internet?
• Does the area often have bad weather?
• How likely or often does a long-term power outage happen?

The following phase is to find the most important business areas, the most important tasks in each location, and the most important dependencies between them. How much time can each feature go without being used? How will you talk to customers and other business people? If your buildings were badly damaged, could your employees work somewhere else?

The business impact study (BIA) comes next. The BIA determines which business processes are at risk from the identified risks and how bad an incident could be. What would happen to your business if a feature stopped working for a day, a week, or longer? This data helps you decide what to do first to keep your business running as smoothly as possible.

Implement And Test

Once the MSP has written the final draught of the BCP according to the data gained in the initial two phases, they will help your team carry out tests on the plan to make sure that each system is meeting the needed metrics.

• Simulation of Business Continuity and Full Recovery. Tests are the last part of trying a plan. During this part, anyone involved with the BC process will try to run a full-scale demonstration of a normal BC situation to ensure all the parts work well together to get operations back up and running.
• Executive Review of the BCP. It is when your company's top management hears about the business survival plan and agrees to it. During this step, leaders' feedback is also used to fill gaps.
• Tabletop Exercises. It is a role-playing game where department leaders work on the business continuity plan for all the disaster situations listed in the risk review phase. These dress rehearsals help your team get used to the business continuance process and find any improvements that could be made.

Cloud-Based Continuity of Business

Businesses started to see the value of cloud technology when they realised that their systems depended on something other than hardware. With this technology, companies can back up applications, files, and even whole platforms to the cloud. The cloud is also a faraway place to store things, meaning that authorised users can access it anytime and from anywhere. 

Since the cloud is fully virtual, it also adds an extra layer of security. On the other hand, data stored on hardware can be lost or stolen if the hardware breaks or goes down. The cloud makes sure that no matter what happens, you can always count on it to keep your crucial company info.

Why Should Your Business Have A Bcp?

A strategy for business continuity can also be referred to as a plan for disaster recovery because it lets you keep important data and other parts of your business running after a disaster. Having a good backup plan makes sure that the system is only down for as long as it takes to get it restored up and running. 

The other part of this is the protection of data. You must ensure that your customers' data is confidential and secure, which usually involves placing it in a remote place or a SkyDrive away from where the disaster happened.

What Are the Essential Components of a Business Continuity Plan?

A plan for business survival is only as effective as what it includes. Here are six things that every good business survival plan should have.  

Threat Assessment

Learn about what could go wrong with your business, such as a natural disaster, a big cyberattack, or an employee mistake, and rank these things by how probable they will happen.

Suppliers and Retailers

Have a way to contact your energy providers, merchants, homeowners, and IT vendors if your systems go down. Knowing how you'll contact these people ahead of time makes disaster recovery less stressful.

Plan For Alternative Communications

Consider all the possible situations and devise a plan to keep talking if all of your home phones go out. Cell phones continue functioning so long as you don't lose service, but ensure the battery is charged.

Emergency Strategy 

Each company's continuity plan requires a special plan for dealing with natural disasters like hurricanes or storm-related damage. Know the probability that an unforeseen event will hurt your business and make plans based on that. You should also know what you'll do if a plumbing problem fills the entire workplace and makes it impossible to work there. 

Their Potential Impact on Your Operations

If you know what kind of threat you're up against and what effects it could have, you'll know what to do if you need to. 

The Primary Contacts

In case of an emergency, your workers need to know how to get in touch with you. This means putting someone in charge of the business survival plan and giving every team member their contact information. You should have a backup plan if you can't reach your boss.

Alternate Site for Operations

You should have a backup location to run your business if you can't use your main building. Prepare for a while and ensure you can manage your central activities from somewhere else if you have to.

Recovery Periods

Find out which parts of your business are most important and make getting them back up and running your top priority. This should be the first step in getting better. Set up your system repair in steps to reduce the chance of mistakes, system problems, and misunderstandings. 

Communication Guidelines

Know how to contact your employees, vendors, and customers if your systems fail. Ensure you have another means to contact people and pass on important messages.  

Conclusion

Businesses need a business survival plan to make sure they can keep running even if something bad happens. It tells how to keep the business running and how to get back on your feet after a disaster. A disaster recovery plan should include IT infrastructure, systems, software licences, maintenance agreements, help contacts, and network operations.

Traditional ways of backing up data are costly and take a lot of time, especially for smaller companies. SMBs should use a current way to back up their data. An IT services provider (MSP) can help make sure that business goals and technology goals are aligned. This reduces stress and makes sure that the plan is handled well throughout its lifecycle.

A business continuity plan includes finding possible risks, figuring out how dangerous each threat is, making plans to lower risks, using the plan, and regularly checking the plan. The first step is to figure out what the risks are and what they mean, such as hacking, problems connecting to the internet, bad weather, and long-term power blackouts. The next step is to figure out which business areas, jobs, and dependencies are the most important and how they all work together.

The business impact study (BIA) is then done to find out which business processes are at risk and how bad an event could be. This information helps businesses decide what they need to do first to keep things running smoothly.

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is an important way for businesses to make sure that their systems will still work in the event of a disaster. It has several steps, such as implementation and testing, simulation of business continuity and full recovery, executive review, and tabletop drills. Cloud-based business continuity is a big plus because it lets businesses back up their apps, files, and platforms in the cloud. This gives them more protection and stops data from being lost or stolen.

A BCP should have a threat assessment, an alternative communications plan, an emergency plan, main contacts, an alternative site for operations, recovery times, and communication rules. The threat assessment helps find possible problems and put them in order of importance. The alternative communications plan makes sure that people can still talk even if their home phones aren't working. 

The focus of an emergency plan is on how to deal with natural disasters and how they might affect operations. Primary contacts make sure that employees know how to call the business, backup plans provide a backup location, recovery periods give priority to important parts of the business, and communication guidelines explain how to contact employees, vendors, and customers in case the system fails.

In short, companies need a BCP to make sure that their systems are up and running during a disaster, to protect customer data, and to make sure that everything runs smoothly.

Content Summary

• Managed services are crucial for an up-to-date business continuity plan.
• Planning for business continuity can help organisations save money during unplanned events.
• Initially, business continuity solutions were popular among commercial banks and government entities.
• Nowadays, organisations of various sizes use business continuity solutions due to their effectiveness.
• A business continuity plan outlines steps to recover quickly after significant disruptions.
• It includes considerations for supply chains, workforce, vital assets, and operational procedures.
• Disaster recovery is just one facet of business continuity planning.
• Business continuity also involves details about software licences and maintenance agreements.
• Traditional backup methods involve storing copies of data in an off-site location.
• For small and medium-sized businesses, traditional backup methods can be costly.
• Modern backup solutions don't require extra equipment or complicated setups.
• A managed services provider (MSP) can assist in creating an effective business continuity plan.
• Experienced MSPs offer stress relief by taking charge of the plan's development and execution.
• Senior management should be actively involved in creating and reviewing the business continuity plan.
• A business continuity plan starts by identifying potential threats to the business.
• The severity of each threat must be assessed in the planning phase.
• Strategies to mitigate risks should be developed.
• Business continuity plans must be reviewed and updated regularly.
• The first stage in planning involves a comprehensive understanding of company risks.
• Considerations include cybersecurity threats and potential internet connectivity issues.
• Risks also include the impact of adverse weather conditions and long-term power outages.
• The next phase identifies key business areas and dependencies.
• Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is crucial for understanding the risk to business processes.
• BIA helps prioritise actions to keep the business running smoothly.
• Once created, the business continuity plan should be rigorously tested.
• Simulation tests ensure that the plan's components work well together.
• Executive review of the plan is essential for buy-in and gap identification.
• Tabletop exercises provide a role-playing environment to test the plan.
• Cloud-based solutions add an extra layer of security for business continuity.
• The cloud offers the advantage of accessing data anytime and from anywhere.
• Business continuity plans are also disaster recovery plans.
• The plan must ensure quick system restoration and data protection.
• Customer data should be securely stored in remote locations.
• Effective business continuity plans include a detailed threat assessment.
• Plans should have contingencies for contacting energy providers and vendors.
• Alternate communication strategies must be in place for different scenarios.
• Emergency strategies specific to natural disasters should be included.
• The plan should evaluate the potential impact of threats on business operations.
• Employee contact guidelines are crucial for effective plan execution.
• An alternate operational site should be prepared in case the main building is unusable.
• Recovery periods for important business parts should be defined.
• Staged system recovery can mitigate the risks of further issues.
• Communication with vendors and customers should be planned if systems fail.
• A business continuity plan should cover software and hardware dependencies.
• Cost-effective solutions are especially important for small and medium-sized businesses.
• The role of cloud technology in business continuity is increasingly recognised.
• Employee training and awareness are essential for effective plan implementation.
• Regular plan audits can help identify areas for improvement.
• The plan should include backup contact information in case key personnel cannot be reached.
• A comprehensive business continuity plan can significantly reduce downtime and financial loss.