How to create a business continuity plan

Make sure you can keep your business running during unexpected events.

It’s in every business owner’s best interest to understand the risks or threats that could disrupt your most important business activities. And if a disaster does strike, you need to have a plan in place to enable your business to get back on its feet as quick and easy as possible.  

This is where a business continuity plan (BCP) comes into action. Use this step-by-step guide to get your plan sorted. It’s vital to your business’s survival.

What is a BCP?

A BCP is a comprehensive strategy to help make sure that in the event of a major disruption, an organisation can continue to function and run its main day-to-day operations. It’s an essential part of running a business to mitigate and lessen risk, and it is applicable to all organisations, whether a private-sector company, public sector organisation, or a practice. 

Why do you need a BCP?

If a major disruption happens, such as a natural disaster or cyber attack, having a business continuity plan will increase the likelihood of being able to continue running your business. It can save a business significant time and money and may help a business to recover faster after a disruption.

What are the types of threats to business continuity? 

There are 4 key threats to business continuity: 

• IT security 
• Adverse weather events 
• Seismic activity 
• Fire 

Other risks include: 

• Supply chain disruption 
• Loss of a key staff member 
• Loss of a key customer 
• Pandemic 
• Supplier outages 

What should a BCP include?

MAS’s Business Advisory Service says that it’s a good idea for New Zealand businesses to proactively develop a business continuity plan before they need to use it. A plan will need to identify the most important things you’ll need to continue running your business. For example, communication, facilities and access to them, resources (equipment and documentation), and technology. You also need to factor in who you have a responsibility to, which may include customers, staff, contractual partners, and the wider community. 

Who and how will you communicate with those you have a responsibility towards, such as staff?  

As part of your plan, you need to decide on the best avenues and tools to communicate with your staff, for example, MS Teams, a social media app. It’s important as part of these communications to have staff emergency contact details readily available, such as home and cell phone numbers and personal email addresses. If your organisation has a website and/or social media platform, you’ll also want to have a plan to keep your staff and customers updated through these communication avenues.  
 
In addition to staff and customers, you will also need to keep details you can access for a range of other contacts such as your insurer, maintenance contractors, utility providers etc. and ensure you can access these off-site.  

How will your business operate if you cannot use your business space and facilities?  

Is it possible to develop an agreement with a business close by so that you could work from their premises? Are there other locations in the community to work from such as local community halls? Here is a list of some of what to add to your business continuity plan. 

• Resources – This will cover a wide range of areas, from IT to stock. 
• IT – Backing up data is one of the simplest ways to ensure business continuity. Is your network cloud based? Have you tested to see if your backup would restore your data and whether you have a backup off site? Or do you have an off-site back up arrangement? Do you have a list of software installed in each workstation? 
• Fixed Asset register – This is to identify all fixed assets of a business. 
• Equipment – Do you have a list of all necessary equipment for each area of the business, so that if you need to replace any equipment you know what was there? 
• Stock – Do you know how much stock you have on hand and its value? 
• Your suppliers – Develop a list of your most used contact details and customer numbers. What are their business continuity plans? 

How long should a BCP be? 

There’s no set size as it will depend on the nature of your business, but it’s important to keep your plan short and usable. You don’t need to create a hefty 20-page document if it’s not needed. 

Your plan needs to be easily accessible by all staff. A good BCP needs to be short enough to convert to a PDF that all staff members can easily store and access on their mobile phone. It could even be a short as a double-sided A4 or A3 document.

Test your BCP before it’s needed 

Like your other emergency preparedness plans, it’s a good idea to put your BCP into practice to make sure everything is covered. It’s recommended that you have your BCP tried and tested with relevant staff at least once a year.  

Instead of focussing on the cause of the disruption, such as a power outage or natural disaster, ask your staff to run through how they’d manage the consequences of the disruption. For example: 

• What will they do if the power is out for multiple days preventing the use of important machinery?  
• What are the options if the premises are closed for a week or longer? 

Your plan will likely change as your business evolves, so make sure you debrief after each test and update the plan if necessary. 

The role of business insurance in business continuity

Business Insurance is designed to protect your business – such as building and contents – against unexpected events. Replacing these items can add up in cost, not to mention the time needed to replace them. Business insurance provides peace of mind. The type of cover and the amount needed will depend on your business. Find out more about business insurance offered by MAS.  

There is the option to take out Natural Disaster cover to protect against loss or damage caused by earthquakes and other natural disasters, depending on where your business is located. And for a full comprehensive protection plan, Business Interruption (BI) is designed to cover your lost income if you need to temporarily close your doors due to an event covered under your policy. 
 
Some questions to consider in relation to business insurance include:  

• Do you have business interruption cover?  
• Do you know what business insurance covers?  
• Does it include loss of earnings, and does it cover staff wages? 

Some key resources for business continuity 

The Resilient Business website offers resources to help you create a resilience strategy and the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office website has downloadable business continuity plans for you to customise for the needs of your business. 

Finally, remember that once you’ve developed your plan, it needs to be a living document and regularly reviewed.  

If you have any questions regarding your business continuity plan you can contact our MAS HealthyPractice team at business@mas.co.nz, and if you need to review your MAS business insurance covers you can email businessinsurance@mas.co.nz. 

MAS staff are happy to answer any questions you have on practice issues or dilemmas. Email your questions to business@mas.co.nz.