2020 became the year that business continuity was brought to the fore with every business of every size in every industry affected in some way by the Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Whist some businesses were able to continue operating, many were forced to close offices and implement homeworking where as others were required to close and cease operations immediately for several months.

Prior to the pandemic, more than half of companies’ (54%) business continuity was affected by an event that lasted more than eight hours (one working day) and just 2% of these organisations recovered from their latest incident in under one hour (source: datacore.com). It could be many years before we know the recovery rates for businesses affected by the Coronavirus pandemic but the latest estimation is that the economy will only return to its pre-pandemic size in 2024. What we do know is that many businesses have already ceased trading and unemployment levels are rising with jobless numbers expecting to hit a record high upon cessation of the furlough scheme in October 2020.

The Coronavirus pandemic was a completely unprecedented event but one which some businesses were better prepared for than others. Undoubtedly, the businesses that have fared the best during these turbulent times were the ones that were better prepared and able to respond quickly to the challenging and ever-changing situation.

Business continuity is about planning to deal with events out of your control so your organisation can continue to function with as little disruption as possible. These plans will help you keep your business going under any circumstances. A good business continuity plan identifies potential threats to your organisation and analyses the impact they may have on day-to-day operations. It also provides a way to mitigate these threats by putting measures in place which enables key functions of the business to continue even if the worst happens.

Sustainable Footprints are ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management Lead Assessors. We will help you prepare and plan as much as possible for if the worst happens. We can help you, not only put your plans in place, but also ensure that they meet the requirements of an internationally recognised standard and give added assurance to your customers and other stakeholders.