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Writing a business continuity plan (BCP) is not a quick or easy task, which can make people avoid doing it altogether. It takes time to organize all of the components of your BCP and then drafting the actual plan itself.
Fortunately, creating an effective BCP isn’t very complicated. All too often, entrepreneurs get stuck in the technical aspects of writing their plans, forgetting what really matters – saving money by re-establishing business operations!
This article will help you write a simple business continuity plan that meets the needs of most small businesses.
Writing a business continuity plan (BCP) can be tricky if you try to make it too long or complex. Make sure your BCP is simple, but still reasonable!
You do not need to include every possible scenario, nor does each organization have an obligation to review their own BCP. But it is important to ensure that yours is sound and will keep working even when things get serious.
The second part of writing a business continuity plan is to run through a disaster scenario. This can be done either via word document, spreadsheet, or notebook depending on your device.
Running a disaster scenario for your company includes things such as what would happen in case of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, power outages, etc. It also includes how you would handle employee leave in these situations. All of this information must be clear and concise so that people do not have doubts about it.
It is important to include all possible scenarios and make sure everything is covered. Once completed, review the documents at least once a year to see if there are any mistakes that need corrected.
Writing a business continuity plan (BCP) can be tricky because you want to make sure it’s practical and achievable, but at the same time you don’t want to go too easy on yourself.
It is very common to feel stressed when creating a BCP. This pressure comes not only from your own expectations of what you think you should include in the plan, but also from those of other people who may have a vested interest in the success or failure of your plans.
So how do you write a simple business continuity plan?
The first thing is to realize that writing a business continuity plan is an exercise in creativity. A simple business continuity plan isn’t just about listing things – it includes doing something with these things.
For example, one of the most basic parts of a business continuity plan is establishing goals. What are your priorities right now? Are they relevant and important for the future of your company? If so, then why not aim to achieve them within a set timeframe?
Your goal could be to increase sales by X percent this month, launch new products next week, or get more customers through social media channels. It all depends on what you're trying to accomplish and what resources you have available to you.
Writing your business continuity plan is like writing any other type of document. Yours will be more effective if you take your time to do it properly.
Start by making your document written in plain language. Use simple, easy to understand vocabulary and cut down on unnecessary fancy words or phrases. This way, even if someone who does not have much experience with such documents can read yours, they will still know what you are talking about!
You don’t need very many pages for a business continuity plan. A one-page outline that includes how to handle major situations and normal day-to-day operations is enough.
When putting together your business continuity plan, think about why you wrote this article and then make your plan based on those reasons. Was it to educate people on what a business continuity plan is? Then emphasize the importance of having one. Or was it so people could get helpful tips on how to create their own BCP? Focus on offering practical ways to put these into practice.
Writing a business continuity plan is not like writing an ordinary essay! There are very specific rules for how to approach this task, and it can be tricky to know what those rules are. Thankfully, you do not have to worry about that here!
This article has been written with some easy guidelines that apply to any type of business continuity plan. Make sure to look through all of them before moving onto the next step.
Start by giving yourself enough time to write your BCP. It may take you several hours depending on the length of the document.
Make sure to include in your plan at least three points. These should be focused on issues, actions, and resources. Try to make these as simple and straightforward as possible.
Once everything is done, leave one week after completing the plan to test it out. This way you won’t need to rush to use it when there is an emergency.
Writing a business continuity plan is not a once-and-done activity, which can make it easy to put off for weeks or months at a time.
You will need to update your plan periodically as your business changes, new products are released, and you gain more knowledge about how disasters can affect your company and people’s daily lives.
Researching what others have done is a good way to get some tips, but don’t feel that you have to imitate anyone else’s approach. Yours will likely be unique to you and your industry!
Keep an eye out for articles and videos related to writing business continuity plans, as well as ways to improve yours. There may also be free templates available online that can help you get started.
The second part of writing a simple business continuity plan is creating a backup plan for your daily routine or work. What does this mean?
You should be prepared in case something happens to you, the workplace, or the department you are responsible for. This could be because someone else assumes your job, there’s a budget cut, or you're promoted into another position.
Whatever it may be, they have worked before so you can learn some things about your job from them.
By having a back up plan, people will know that you take your responsibility seriously and that you don't expect to be paid while you're doing yours.
This way, anyone working under you won't feel forced to do the same because they'll have a safety net.
After completing the initial write-up of your business continuity plan, it is important to review your work frequently. This can be done by yourself or through team members or consultants that you have hired to help you run this plan.
Business continuity plans are dynamic documents that require constant attention and evaluation. Yours will change as your company does!
This should include an eye on the deadline for when it was last updated and if there’s anything in the document that seems out of place or outdated, go back and update it.
In fact, your colleagues and friends may also need to see what sort of contingency planning you’ve got underway before they can really give you their full support.
