How continuity plans give your business a competitive advantage

PLAN AHEAD, SAVE MONEY, SAVE YOUR BUSINESS

Chances are, the next major client you try to land will ask you for your Business Continuity Plan in addition to your pricing and company information. They want some assurance that if they select you as a service or product provider, that you will be around for a while.

Why should I do this again?

A business continuity plan is an ideal way to demonstrate your organizations stability and resiliency. It will only take a couple hours of your time to draft a basic continuity plan for your company and the advantages expand beyond being better prepared for the next business disruption. I always ask my clients “why do you want a business continuity plan now?” and the answer is always “because someone is asking for it and I don’t have one.” These “someone’s” include potential new clients, existing clients, lawyers, insurance companies and regulators. Too often I have had to product a business continuity plan in just a couple of days. This can risk missing key details and almost certainly a plan that has not been fully vetted by leadership.

Why should I do this now?

That is why it is worth taking the time to craft a business continuity plan BEFORE you need it. Being able to provide it to a prospective client within minutes of their request proves to them that you have already prepared for future business disruptions and planned to stay fully operational no matter what. Your clients are not stupid, they know that if you take a few days to respond to their request, that may be because you were NOT prepared and are scrambling to throw one together. You may get points for having one, but not as many as the competitor who demonstrated that they already have prepared and put their plans into practice.

If you choose to hire a consultant to write your plans, they will almost certainly charge extra for a rush job (I know I do!) So this is going to wind up costing you more money in fees, more time in having to throw something together that you didn’t plan on and may cost you your next client.

Ok, you sold me....now what

If you are not sure how to draft your own continuity plan, free templates abound online or contact Tempest Risk Management to provide your plan for you.

Andy Ziegler - Tempest Risk Management LLC.

If you are interested in engaging Tempest Risk Management to provide Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery consultation, email info@tempestrisk.com to schedule a no cost, no obligation consultation.

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