If there is a long-term lesson to be learned from COVID-19 (Coronavirus), it’s that we rarely get advance notice that a disaster is about to strike. Who would have imagined six months ago the world would be facing the series of current events due to the rapid spread of this virus. While this has (hopefully) been a once-in-a lifetime event, unplanned catastrophic events happen all the time in our lives, and there is no question that those incidents have a significant impact on an organization and its ability to operate moving forward.
Even with some lead-time though, multiple things can go wrong; every incident is unique and unfolds in unexpected ways. This is where a business continuity plan comes into play. To give your organization the best shot at success during a disaster, you need to put a current, tested plan in the hands of all personnel responsible for carrying out any part of that plan. The lack of a plan does not just mean your organization will take longer than necessary to recover from an event or incident. You could go out of business for good.