Business Continuity For Dummies

Business Continuity For Dummies

by The Cabinet Office
Released December 2012
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9781118326831

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Book description

The easy way to ensure your business is prepared for anything

If disaster struck, could your business continue to operate? It might be a fire, flood, storm, technical failure, or a quality control failure - whichever way, how can you minimize the risk of disruption to your business?

Business Continuity For Dummies clearly sets out how to identify the risks to your organization, how to create your own BCM plan, how to apply BCM in practice and what to do if the worst does happen.

  • Assess and minimize the risk of disruption to your business

  • Create your own business continuity plan

  • Apply business continuity in practice

What are you waiting for? Take action now to ensure the survival of your business with Business Continuity For Dummies.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Title Page
  4. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. What You’re Not to Read
    3. Conventions Used in This Book
    4. Foolish Assumptions
    5. How This Book Is Organised
    6. Icons Used in This Book
    7. Where to Go from Here
  5. Part I: Discovering Business Continuity
    1. Chapter 1: Introducing Business Continuity
      1. Introducing the Idea of Business Continuity
      2. Revealing the Key Terms and Concepts
      3. Discovering How Business Continuity Works
    2. Chapter 2: Understanding the Importance of Business Continuity
      1. Appreciating the Benefits of Business Continuity
      2. Making Business Sense
      3. Helping You to Profit from Commercial Sense
      4. Developing Your People Sense
      5. Supporting Financial and Legal Aspects
      6. Making the Case: BC is Common Sense
    3. Chapter 3: Achieving Rapid Results and Quick Wins
      1. Giving Your Business a Resilience Health Check with The Seven Ps
      2. People: Keeping Staff Members Safe and Accounted For
      3. Premises and Assets: Preparing and Taking Precautions
      4. Processes and IT: Keeping Data Safe and Your Business Trading
      5. Prioritising Your Customers and Suppliers
      6. Publicity: Keeping People Informed
      7. Public Infrastructure: Liaising with People in Your Community
      8. Phone Numbers: Keeping Essential Contact Info Handy
  6. Part II: Starting Out on Your Business Continuity Journey
    1. Chapter 4: Focusing on What's Important: Business Impact Analysis
      1. Understanding What Matters Most
      2. Protecting Against the FORCES of Disruption
      3. Identifying and Prioritising Your Critical Activities through a BIA
    2. Chapter 5: Considering the Risks to Your Business
      1. Looking at Risk in a Business Continuity Context
      2. Selecting the Right Risk Approach for Your Business
      3. Identifying, Evaluating, Recording and Responding to Your Risks (IERR)
      4. Monitoring and Reviewing Your Risks
    3. Chapter 6: Building Resilience in Your Supply Chain
      1. Defining a Supply Chain
      2. Focusing Your Actions for the Most Benefit
      3. Using the CHAIN Mnemonic to Manage Your Suppliers
    4. Chapter 7: Selecting the Right Continuity Strategies
      1. Gathering Together What You Need
      2. Looking Before You Leap
      3. Working Out Your BC Strategy Responses
    5. Chapter 8: Developing Your Business Continuity Plan
      1. Examining BC Plans
      2. Creating Your Own BC Plan
      3. Building Your BC Plan
  7. Part III: Embedding Business Continuity into Your Company
    1. Chapter 9: Building a Great Business Continuity Team
      1. Planning and Co-ordinating Your Team
      2. Selling BC and Making It Work
      3. Keeping the Enthusiasm Going
    2. Chapter 10: Managing a Crisis
      1. Looking at What Constitutes a Crisis
      2. Preparing for Crises
      3. Responding to a Crisis
      4. Moving On: Recovering from a Crisis
    3. Chapter 11: Validating Your Business Continuity Plan
      1. Accepting the Need to Validate Your Recovery Procedures
      2. Planning the Exercise and Its Objectives
      3. Knowing What to Test
      4. Running an Exercise
      5. Identifying Lessons: Ending Up Stronger
      6. Considering an Exercise Scenario
  8. Part IV: Examining Business Continuity in Specific Contexts
    1. Chapter 12: Calling in the Experts
      1. Taking Preventative Actions with Expert Advice
      2. Taking Common-sense Measures
      3. Deciding ‘Who You Gonna Call’ After a Crisis
    2. Chapter 13: Viewing Business Continuity from a Manufacturing Perspective
      1. Focusing on Manufacturing and BC
      2. Understanding What’s Important to Your Manufacturing Business
    3. Chapter 14: Developing a Retail Business Continuity Programme
      1. Considering the BC Specifics for a Retail Business
      2. Deciding What’s Important to Your Retail Business
    4. Chapter 15: Using Business Continuity with Professional Services Firms
      1. Examining Professional Firms and BC
      2. Discovering What’s Important to Your Professional Services Business
    5. Chapter 16: Making Insurance Work
      1. Meeting Your Legal Responsibilities
      2. Ensuring You Have the Insurance You Need
      3. Arranging the Appropriate Cover for Your Business
      4. Following Quick Tips for Easy Insurance
  9. Part V: The Part of Tens
    1. Chapter 17: Ten Top Tips for Keeping Your IT in Great Shape
      1. Back Up Your Data
      2. Send Data Securely
      3. Minimise Human Error
      4. Protect Passwords
      5. Restrict Staff IT Access
      6. Protect Your IT System
      7. Seek Expert Help
      8. Form a Business Continuity Plan for Your IT System
      9. Practise Restoring Your Systems
      10. Educate Your Staff in IT
    2. Chapter 18: Ten Tips for Communicating Internally During a Disruption
      1. Keep Your Staff Fully Informed
      2. Think Carefully about What You Say
      3. Be Honest about Difficulties
      4. Take Care of Hurt or Seriously Affected Staff
      5. Encourage Staff to Be Flexible in Their Roles and Responsibilities
      6. Provide Clear Guidance to Staff Working in Different Roles
      7. Listen to Staff Concerns and Suggestions
      8. Use People’s Skills and Abilities
      9. Look After Your Senior Staff
      10. Hold a De-brief
    3. Chapter 19: Ten Tips for Effective External Communication in a Crisis
      1. Have a Communication Strategy
      2. Inform the Key Players
      3. Get Your Side of the Story Out First
      4. Think About the Channels of Information
      5. Keep Information Updated
      6. Judge Your Timing
      7. Focus on Simple Messages
      8. Display Sensitivity
      9. Put Out a Consistent Message
      10. Record What You Said
  10. About the Authors
  11. Cheat Sheet

Product information

  • Title: Business Continuity For Dummies
  • Author(s): The Cabinet Office
  • Release date: December 2012
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9781118326831