Michael Bittle, Managing Director of IBCT, discusses the importance of continuity planning

There are 101 things that can go wrong for any business. COVID-19 is just one of them. Floods, fires, theft, staff shortages, zombie attacks, space aliens – you name it.

So what are you supposed to do to prepare your business for the next COVID-19? Or zombie attack?

Fortunately, there is a solid answer to that question. It’s called a Business Continuity Plan, and a good one will take an ‘all-hazards’ risk approach.

This means that you don’t have to spend your time analyzing risk probabilities for the 101 things that could wrong. That would take a lot of time and money. Instead, thanks to the international business continuity standard ISO 22301, you look at the things that you don’t want to lose – your key people, your key property and key business processes – and you ask yourself the question “what if I lost this for a day, a week or a month? What would I do then?

Of course, creating a business continuity plan is not really as simple as that, but it is not rocket science either. There are 7 basic steps outlined in the ISO standard and, for a small- to medium-sized business, the entire process from start to finish should not take more than 3 months, working part-time.

The Institute for Business Continuity Training has been assisting companies for over 20 years.

To help small business and non-profit organizations during the current COVID-19 crisis, they have posted hundreds of free business continuity templates, cybersecurity files, pandemic planning files, and more on their website. They have also made available a comprehensive online business continuity training course base on the ISO 22301 standard free of charge. All you have to do is ask for it.

The time to start planning for the next COVID-19 threat is now. You have all the resources available to create a business continuity plan free of charge through the Institute for Business Continuity Training. Don’t wait until the zombies show up on your doorstep!

To learn more, visit https://www.IBCT.com