Strategies may be required for;

• People
• Facilities
• Technology
• Information
• Supplies
• Stakeholders
• Civil Emergencies

These strategies should take into account the recovery objectives, how long activities can be disrupted for and the costs.

BS25999 has extensive lists of things to consider when determining business continuity strategies. Simple examples are

People

Do you have enough skills available within the organisation to recover?
Are processes documented?
What third parties or contract staff do you rely on?

Facilities

Where might alternative office space or manufacturing capacity found?
Is working from home a suitable option

Technology

How fast can alternative technology be provisioned?
What about software licences?
Is alternative telecommunications routing an option worth considering?

Information

Hard copy or virtual?
How far back can you recover from?
Can it be accessed from another location?

Supplies

How much stock is enough?
Is that stock perishable?
How fast can you get the supplies?

Stakeholders

How can the welfare of staff be protected?
Are there any regulatory reporting restrictions or obligations?

Civil Emergencies

How will you liaise with the emergency services?
What can be expected?

When the strategy has been decided and documented it should be signed off by senior management as it sets the framework for the following section

Document Author - Harvey Fawcett

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