{"id":3040,"date":"2016-01-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/otava.test\/five-frequently-asked-questions-about-business-continuity\/"},"modified":"2016-01-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-08T00:00:00","slug":"five-frequently-asked-questions-about-business-continuity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/five-frequently-asked-questions-about-business-continuity\/","title":{"rendered":"Five frequently asked questions about business continuity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-16139\" src=\"https:\/\/otava.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/dominoes_97332504.jpg\" alt=\"Five frequently asked questions about business continuity\" width=\"350\" height=\"289\" \/>Business continuity<\/em> is a\u00a0term\u00a0that\u2019s growing in popularity in risk management circles, but what does it mean exactly?<\/p>\n<p>The following is a list of common questions about business continuity and how it affects an organization and the people within it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is business continuity?<\/strong><br \/>\nIf we break down the word, <em>continuity<\/em> is defined by Merriam Webster as \u201cthe quality of something that does not stop or change as time passes: a continuous quality.\u201d Business continuity takes that definition and applies it to the business world. Business continuity is the capability of your organization to continue to\u00a0function as normal\u00a0when faced with potentially\u00a0disruptive incidents.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How does business continuity affect me?<\/strong><br \/>\nBusiness continuity affects all levels of an organization, from the CEO down to the systems analyst. If something happens to interrupt your business, it can have devastating repercussions. If you\u2019re a hospital and suffer a system failure, patients\u2019 lives are literally at risk. If you run an e-business, any loss of ability to process financial transactions means a loss of revenue that could potentially put you out of business.\u00a0Ultimately, the more revenue at risk per minute of disruption, the more your business is at risk to survive.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How can I make sure my business thrives\u00a0in spite\u00a0of disruptions?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First, you&#8217;ll want to conduct a Business Impact Analysis. A BIA can help you determine the magnitude and timescale of a disruption or failure to your business, therefore allowing you to start determining recovery solutions. There are many kinds of scenarios that should be considered when conducting your BIA.<\/p>\n<p>After you&#8217;ve conducted your BIA, you need to come up with a <a href=\"https:\/\/otavawebsite.wpengine.com\/blog\/disaster-recovery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">business continuity plan<\/a> to further address recovery strategies outlined in your impact analysis. Based on what you uncovered, it should include which processes and systems are mission-critical and provide information to keep them running. Whether you\u2019re a business or technology executive, it\u2019s important to work with other members of your organization rather than coming up with a plan in isolation. Collaboration is key to helping you and your colleagues follow the proper procedures to right the ship after a disaster.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I already have a plan. Am I all set?<\/strong><br \/>\nIf you already have a plan in place, you\u2019ve taken a huge step. But just because one is already written doesn\u2019t mean you can check off business continuity from your to-do list. It\u2019s continuous for a reason. Is your plan up to date? If you added new staff to your team or opened a new office branch, you\u2019ll want to include those people, technologies and processes into your plan if need be. Have you tested your plan to make sure it works as designed? If not, then it is only as good as the paper it&#8217;s written on. Regular testing is the key to making sure it works in a time of need.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How important is disaster recovery to my plan?<\/strong><br \/>\nWhile there are many parts to your total business continuity plan, the ability to get back online quickly after an incident such as a server outage or a natural disaster is key to keeping your mission-critical applications running. Having a disaster recovery plan in place can keep your business ahead of the game when something unexpected comes up that threatens the continuity of your organization. When you already have a backup in place and ready to go, it lessens the impact of a disaster and you can get back to what you do best, whether that\u2019s managing the IT department or the entire company.<\/p>\n<p>The overall process of mapping out your business continuity plan, including identification of key operations components, developing a plan and testing it, is an involved, long-term project that can take anywhere from 12-18 months, depending on the size and complexity of your organization. It&#8217;s a large investment, but the peace of mind you&#8217;ll get knowing you&#8217;ve taken precautions to protect your business is even greater.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ready to get started or update your business continuity plan?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe federal government can help you develop your own continuity plan (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ready.gov\/business\/implementation\/continuity\">https:\/\/www.ready.gov\/business\/implementation\/continuity<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Next time we\u2019ll talk more about <a href=\"https:\/\/otavawebsite.wpengine.com\/solutions\/data-protection\/disaster-recovery-as-a-service\/\">disaster recovery<\/a> and how it is an integral part of your overall business continuity plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Business continuity is a\u00a0term\u00a0that\u2019s growing in popularity in risk management circles, but what does it mean exactly? The following is a list of common questions about business continuity and how it affects an organization and the people within it. What is business continuity? If we break down the word, continuity is defined by Merriam Webster as \u201cthe quality of something that does not stop or change as time passes: a continuous quality.\u201d Business continuity takes that definition and applies it to the business world. Business continuity is the capability of your organization to continue to\u00a0function as normal\u00a0when faced with potentially\u00a0disruptive incidents. How does business continuity affect me? Business continuity affects all levels of an organization, from the CEO down to the systems analyst. If something happens to interrupt your business, it can have devastating repercussions. If you\u2019re a hospital and suffer a system failure, patients\u2019 lives are literally at risk. If you run an e-business, any loss of ability to process financial transactions means a loss of revenue that could potentially put you out of business.\u00a0Ultimately, the more revenue at risk per minute of disruption, the more your business is at risk to survive. How can I make sure my&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"other_category":[],"class_list":["post-3040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disaster-recovery"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Five frequently asked questions about business continuity | OTAVA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The following is a list of five common questions about business continuity and how it affects an organization and the people within it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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