How would your business cope in a crisis? Do you have a Business Continuity Management (BCM) plan to guide your recovery? Or are you just leaving it to luck?

A common misconception is that BCM merely encompasses backup and recovery plans and that external consultants are needed to do this. However, BCM is actually a lot more than that... and provided you know your business environment, it can in fact actually be inexpensive and relatively easy to implement.

Business Continuity Planning is a process of identifying and evaluating the risks to your business and then planning to enable the business to continue operating (and recover) if the worst happens.

Around the world regulators and governments are putting great emphasis on the need for organisations to have effective BCM in place. Some insurance companies are setting the level of business interruption premiums according to the speed at which an organisation is able to resume business. Several large businesses are starting to insist on suppliers having robust BCM processes in place before they will trade with them.

According to AXA research, three quarters of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are risking it all through lack of survival planning. One third admits to relying on luck to make important business decisions. Despite recent high-profile threats to business hitting the news, from terrorist attacks, extreme weather, petrol blockades, fires and trade disputes, research has found that the UK's SMEs are gambling on their futures.

Expect the Unexpected!