Why is ISO 22301 Important?
You wouldn’t not have life insurance if you’re a homeowner, would you? What about protection when it comes to your business? Do you have a business continuity plan in place should the unthinkable happen?
ISO 22301 provides a framework for a business continuity management system in the case of an unexpected disruption or disaster. Many companies do not imagine such incidents to happen but over the last few years with COVID-19, this has been proven. Disruptions can result in revenue loss, data risk breakdowns, and failure to deliver normal client services. Having a backup plan to reduce losses is crucial for any organisation and is something all businesses should seek to implement.
Expect the Unthinkable…
Disasters in a business can vary from a data breach or a flood in the area to a public health crisis. Such disasters can have a huge financial impact on the business. COVID-19 is a recent example of a huge business disruption as it affected thousands of businesses, both large and small, and many had no backup plan to continue to deliver products and services as usual. It is important to expect the worst, so your company is prepared in the event of a disaster or disruption.
Identifying what could cause your company to be disrupted is the obvious first step. For example, a potential fire in the building. This is something that can be prevented by looking at how you can mitigate risks that would cause a fire in the first place.
Starting off with a fire risk assessment to prevent the risks is crucial but if the unfortunate event still occurs, what’s the next step? Ensuring your company is listed in cloud systems such as Microsoft 365 is crucial, therefore all your data is saved, and you can access your work documents from home so your business can still run, and employees are still providing the expected service that your customers are paying for.
Ensuring the Backup Plan Works…
Testing the business continuity plan regularly or at planned intervals is fundamental as if that doesn’t work, it is going to be even harder for your business to get back onto its feet, costing both time and money. If your business needs to use technology to communicate after a disaster, regularly testing that technology is working is necessary to know that it is reliable.
It’s also worth noting that buying backup systems and software is a necessary investment so you’re not at risk of losing any important information.
Getting Started with ISO 22301…
If you want to improve your company’s ability to meet your customer’s and other stakeholders’ needs in the event of a disruption or disaster, then becoming certified in ISO 22301 is for you.
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