Business Continuity Plan for a chosen organization

Introduction

Business Continuity Planning mainly involves the creation of a system that can prevent a potential disaster or threat. The purpose of creating a BCP is to ensure that assets of the organization are protected, and key stakeholders play an essential role in preparing the plan. Here, a BCP shall be prepared for an IT company that hosts several servers for thousands of clients. The basic activities that BCP can manage effectively shall be outlined. Following that, plans will be prepared for relocating the office to an alternate site. The total expenditure comprising of necessary activities and costs shall be outlined as well.

BCP for the organization

Cantey Technology, a reputed IT company based in South Carolina, hosts servers and has thousands of clients (Cantey Technology, 2020). It is natural that the business would face issues in its operations in case of any fire-related incident. The network infrastructure and computer hardware are at-risk position. The entire operations of the firm might get hampered if the infrastructure gets damaged due to sudden fire. The equipments might not become unusable. Hence, it is necessary to create a BCP or relocating the firm to a remote location so that clients do not get interruptions during service. Keeping the client servers on-site might be risky because one major disruption on-site is enough to destroy the entire firm. Thereafter, the business might have to bear legal liabilities.

The comprehensive plan can be regarded as a roadmap for the organization. It can ensure business continuance as well as restoration of the critical business functions (Fisher, Norman, & Klett, 2017). A sudden natural disaster such as flood or fire disrupts the operations, and therefore the BCP will be written down and communicated to the key personnel. The fundamental elements that will be considered are-

• Identification of potential disaster
• Areas of a chain of command
• Up-to-date emergency contacts
• Establishment of recovery teams
• Creation of an off-site for storing data
• Electricity or power arrangements
• Communication strategy
• Services and equipment backup
• Last recovery phase

Each of these primary activities should be incorporated and managed in BCP.

Figure 1: Basic types of threats that occur in an organization  

(Source: eci.com, 2020)

Basic activities managed by BCP

• Identification of potential disaster– The plan covers contingencies for different types of threats, including cyber terrorism, fire, flood, bombing, and power outage (Paton & MCCLuRE, 2017). The organization has different servers, and therefore, all kinds of risks have been considered.
• Areas of a chain of command – It is important to give responsibility and higher authority to particular staff or personnel. The CIO and the CEO can Subordinates will work under their supervision. Alternate positions will be assigned in case they are unavailable or busy with other tasks.
• Up-to-date emergency contacts – At the time of the disaster, it is not feasible to scramble through contact numbers of legal advisors or entities that can provide support. Hence, in BCP, the contact information of relevant personnel and entities such as security services, fire, police, and utility companies shall be included.
• Establishment of recovery teams – The members of the DR team shall be appointed. They will be given proper training to handle the crisis. The members that will be included in the team are security specialists, communication experts, safety experts, and IT professionals (Muflihah & Subriadi, 2018).
• Creation of an off-site for storing data – The risk of losing digital data is inevitable, and therefore, backups shall be created. It is not safe to store data in server rooms only. Thus, the internet will be used to backup data to some remote location.
• Electricity or power arrangements – Uninterrupted power supplies shall be ensured by using generator power.
• Substitute for the communication strategy – It will be impossible to stay connected with employees and customers in case of sudden disaster. Hence, an alternative approach will be used. For instance, ham radios, alternative e-mails will be used during emergencies.
• Services and equipment backup – It is better to use e-mail hosting or web-hosting equipment unless the servers are functioning correctly (McKnight & Linnenluecke, 2019).
• Last recovery phase – It mainly involves damage assessment, estimation of recovery of the cost of recovery, progress monitoring, and keeping relations with insurance firms.

Figure 2: the Basic process of BCP

(Source: communitydoor.org, 2020)

Plans for alternate site relocation

In case the building of Cantey Technology gets destroyed or remains unusable after an incident, it is necessary to move to an empty facility. The new site must be less expensive and practically designed to support servers (Wallace & Webber, 2017). Another physical site would ensure business continuance. The plan has been outlined below-

• Alternative business location– street address, city, state, telephone number and consideration of any pre-agreement
• Contact– Contact name, contact number, alternate contact number, and e-mail address
• Assessment of site– Staff number, available supplies, required supplies, the time needed to set operations, staying length, and probable hazards along with additional notes.

The mentioned points are the primary considerations before moving to a new site. It should be used along with an emergency response plan. The various business units of Cantey Technology can be relocated to another site, and it is vital to activate the site first. Activation mainly involves the preparation of the site (Hansen, 2016). It will be followed by resuming the operations such as setting up servers room, physical security, and technology. Thereafter, the business can be resumed to normal.

The estimated budget for alternate site operations

Conclusion

BCP is a vital process for organizations, mainly operating in the IT industry, because damage or destruction caused to computer networks or systems is often irreparable. In this case, the situation of Cantey Technology has been considered, and a BCP has been prepared to ensure its smooth operations. The necessity of establishing an alternate site has been understood and a plan along with estimated budget has been presented.