Business Continuity Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Continuity Planning - Essay Example Thus there has emerged a need for ‘Business Continuity Planning’ (BCP). Any natural or unnatural disaster can always disrupt a business activity either for a short or a longer duration. It has now become essential to foresee such eventualities and have concrete plans to handle such situations. One of the prime examples of such a scenario was the terrorist activity in which the World Trade Centre was destroyed in New York which posed an immediate threat to the business concerns in that location. However many of the organizations in the area had adequate backup and continuity plans in place which helped them to recover (Safeguard). An ideal BCP begins by identifying the ‘applications, customers and the locations which an organizations needs to keep functioning in face of any disruption and the time frame involved in the execution of the backup plan’ (Mphasis). The identified applications and services need to be delivered continuously even during the disruptive phase and any good BCP endeavors to pre plan and enforce such infrastructure, regulations and methods without fail under continuous supervision and testing. Resources in order to achieve continuity need to be identified and categorized according to priority beforehand. Such resources must include ‘personnel, finance, information, equipment, legal counsel, accommodations and infrastructure protection (Safeguard). A good BCP plan in force enhances the reputation and the confidence within as well outside a business organization. BCP is initiated by a special governance sector or an exclusive department in the organization which takes overall control for planning, finance, execution, auditing and testing of the program. It conducts a ‘business impact analysis to identify the organization’s mandate and critical services or products’ (Safeguard). It then prioritizes different