Thursday, 8 May 2008  
 
 
What would happen if you went out to lunch and you came back and your business was not there? What would happen if a fire destroyed all your equipment and stock? What would happen if you arrived to work one morning only to discover that all your files and file back-ups had been stolen? These are the unthinkable questions that businesses must address as part of a successful business continuity plan, said John Petty FCA, Pitcher Partners at the Adelaide Business Forum yesterday. 
 
“According to statistics from the Insurance Council of Australia, every year six to seven per cent of businesses experience a disaster that prohibits them from trading or operating effectively. In addition, 43 per cent of those businesses do not re-open their door for business – ever again. And of those that do get back on their feet, 28 per cent fail in the next three years and are forced to close down.” 
 
“While it is impossible to reduce the risk of a natural disaster occurring, it is possible through a business continuity plan to protect the company from an incident that would jeopardise the continuing operation of the business,” said Mr Petty.  
 
To help businesses to effectively minimise their chance of becoming a statistic, Mr Petty encourages businesses to adopt a business continuity plan, which addresses four key assessment processes:

• Business Risk Events – here all potential events are raised, such as, fire, hail, power surge which could cause business exposure or risk
• Business Impact Assessment – this includes listing all potential losses that could occur as a result of an event, including loss of income, loss of physical address or loss of staff morale
• Business Continuity Precautions – these are the precautions set up to minimise and prevent the impact of a business disaster. Examples include regular updating of insurance policies and making sure you shop around for the right cover for your businesses circumstances, installing sprinkler systems and monitored to prevent fire from spreading and developing lock-up checklists at the end of the day’s trading
• Business Emergency Response – refers to the actions and response in the initial 24 hours after a disaster. Possibly including deploying the organisations crisis management plan including clear concise information to staff, media, suppliers, insurance companies, banks and competitors.