Stages of Business Continuity Planning

Our BCP consulting follows a structured, multi-phase approach to build and refine resilience programs. The key stages include:

​

Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

​

• Conduct a comprehensive analysis of business processes, applications, and dependencies to determine their criticality.

• Establish Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) to define acceptable downtime and data loss.

• Quantify potential impacts (financial, reputational, operational) of process interruptions.

 

Risk Assessment

​

• Identify threats such as cyberattacks, natural disasters, supply chain disruptions, and system outages.

• Evaluate vulnerabilities and single points of failure across technology, people, and processes.

• Map risks to business objectives to prioritize recovery efforts.

 

Strategy Development

​

• Define recovery strategies tailored to your organization, including alternate sites, cloud failover, redundant systems, and backup solutions.

• Establish communication and escalation protocols for leadership, staff, vendors, and customers.

• Balance resilience and cost-effectiveness to support business priorities.

 

Plan Development

​

• Create a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan documenting recovery strategies, procedures, and roles.

• Integrate BCP with IT disaster recovery (DR), incident response, and crisis management programs.

• Develop playbooks for different disruption scenarios, ensuring clear execution steps.

 

Implementation Support

​

• Assist in deploying supporting technologies such as automated backups, redundant systems, and failover infrastructure.

• Support the creation of continuity documentation, including contact trees, dependency maps, and recovery workflows.

• Provide integration guidance to ensure continuity processes align with day-to-day operations.

 

Training and Awareness

​

• Deliver training programs to educate employees on continuity responsibilities.

• Conduct workshops and tabletop exercises to validate readiness.

• Foster a resilience-focused culture to ensure ongoing adherence to continuity strategies.

 

Testing and Continuous Improvement

​

• Conduct regular testing, including simulation exercises and failover drills.

• Review and update BCP documents based on lessons learned, organizational changes, or emerging risks.

• Provide ongoing advisory support to maintain alignment with evolving best practices and regulations.

 

Methodologies and Frameworks

 

Our Business Continuity Planning leverages globally recognized methodologies to ensure effective, repeatable, and auditable programs. Key frameworks include:

​

• ISO 22301: International standard for Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS).

• NIST SP 800-34: Contingency Planning Guide for federal information systems, widely adopted for IT recovery.

• ISO 31000: Risk management framework ensuring alignment of continuity with enterprise risk strategies.

• ASD Essential 8: Practical cyber resilience measures to minimize the impact of security incidents.

 

Value to Your Business

​

Business Continuity Planning provides tangible strategic benefits, including:

​

• Reduced Downtime: Ensure rapid recovery of critical processes, minimizing operational and financial losses.

• Regulatory Compliance: Meet requirements of ISO 22301, industry regulations, and audit expectations.

• Improved Resilience: Build confidence in your ability to handle unexpected disruptions.

• Stakeholder Trust: Demonstrate proactive preparedness to customers, partners, and regulators.

• Continuous Adaptation: Keep pace with changing business models, technologies, and risks through ongoing updates.