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Outrider has recently been working on some client continuity planning activities - a timely exercise given COVID-19 and the impact it's having on the business and community.
Many businesses report as being unprepared for a situation like COVID-19 and this is not a surprise given the sheer scale of the impacts. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that continuity planning rarely gets enough attention operationally.
Continuity management is a frequently discussed topic by business leaders but this does not always translate to good practical outcomes where an established continuity plan is regularly tested and refined across a business in expectation of a pandemic, natural disaster or major cyber event.
Outrider has some clear views on what good continuity preparation looks like:
Outrider has some clear views on what good continuity preparation looks like:
- a continuity plan needs to be simple, clear and easily understood by the whole business
- the continuity management approach must be visibly endorsed and supported by business leadership on an ongoing basis
- continuity responsibility must be a focus of everyone's role in the organisation, it can't be handed off to a small group of people to manage in isolation
- continuity plans should consider every every aspect of the business operations; it's common to confuse continuity management with disaster recovery planning and then ignore some of the critical aspects required to make your business operation whole after a shock
- following a standards based approach to continuity planning makes the process of constructing a continuity management structure much easier
- creating regular space in your business operating calendar to test continuity plans is essential; just as there is little point in writing documents that no one reads there is little value in having plans that are never tested until you are in the midst of a crisis
As a consequence of COVID-19 many businesses are changing their operating model on the fly to support remote working practices and staff isolation. Whilst not an ideal situation to be faced with, these forced adaptations represent a learning opportunity where leaders should:
- carefully note down all their virus response actions
- monitor regularly the effectiveness of the plans put in place and the refinements made
- consider alternative strategies they see being used by other businesses &
- capture the customer and stakeholder feedback they are receiving
On the other side of this pandemic impacted businesses with thoughtful leaders will have a much stronger understanding of the detail required to get a good continuity management process in place. A potential small upside during a terribly difficult time for everyone.