Are Business Continuity Consultants Needed?

You may be considering implementing business continuity in your company strategy during a financial downturn, or it may be that you have it in mind for an economic recovery.

There are some very definite reasons to support the former option.

A number of companies opt to reduce their expenditure and marketing when times are financially difficult. This also applies to those projects that should be completed but are constantly shifted down the priority ladder at the expense of other projects that are deemed to be of greater importance. One of those projects that all too often gets left behind is business continuity. Many marketers will tell you that in a tough economic period, you should be increasing your marketing efforts rather than cutting back. People do need to be aware that you are still operating, as they will not have ceased to be in need of your services and still need to know where you are.

If you rely on one or two suppliers for your raw materials and you have one or two customers or clients that comprise more than 50% of your revenue, your business may struggle to survive should one of those companies go out of business.

During a financial downturn, you will have staff that may not be as busy as normal. They can turn their talents to other matters such as business continuity which helps to improve your company's programme.

It may be a better idea, however, to turn to one of many business continuity consultants that are available. They will have more time and expertise to develop a more effective plan. In a financial downturn, because some companies do cut back, business continuity consultants are in less demand, which means they have more time to work on your plan and you will get your programme sooner than you otherwise would, if required.

Business continuity consultants will assist a company in developing and implementing a business continuity plan which can be turned to should the business be disrupted in any way. I.T. Security is a part of this plan but there is a far wider skill-set utilised in addition to a wealth of business experience in a number of areas.

Even businesses that have a business continuity plan in place often go out of business if their infrastructure, such as their I.T. system, has been damaged in some way. DTI/PricewaterhouseCoopers say that more than 40% of businesses that have suffered from a substantial loss of data find themselves out of business. If your firm has no business continuity plan, you should therefore look into having one developed as soon as possible.

Disasters tend to happen when they are needed the least, so start your planning as soon as possible and do your research on local business continuity consultants. If, and when, your competitors are having problems, you will be in a position to know that you have carefully thought about the primary objectives of your business and will know what to do should an emergency rear its ugly head.