A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is a process that outlines the potential impact of disaster situations, creates policies to respond to them and helps business to recover quickly so that they can function as usual. It’s main goal is to protect employees and assets both during and after an emergency.

According to Catherine Wekesa, CEO at the International Talent Management Consulting Limited, an emergency situation is one whereby a business cannot function under normal circumstances. The business should preview potential threats and come up with a BCP to ensure that business proceeds if a threat should become a reality.

Threats, disruptions, disasters and pandemics can lead to loss in revenue and other costs, which in turn can affect probability. A proactive plan can protect the business in these three ways:

• The business will feel more prepared to handle the unexpected
• The business will have a plan to continue providing their services after the disaster.
• The business will better preserve it’s cooperate image, reputation an stream.

What does a business continuity plan include? It may differ from company to company, but it should include the following at the least:

• Policy, purpose and scope
• Goals and objectives
• Key roles and responsibilities.
• Risk mitigation plans
• Lists of tasks required to keep operations flowing
• Explanation of where to go during an emergency
• Information on data backups or site backups.
• Plan maintenance protocols
• Coordination with local emergency personnel
• Contact information of management personnel.

Catherine Wekesa was a facilitator at Un.thinkable masterclass (our quarterly 10X Growth Leaders Workshop) in November 2020. Click here to apply for membership in Un.thinkable.