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You’ve dedicated your blood, sweat and tears to building your business – but can it survive the unexpected?
As an experienced leader, you know how important it is to think ahead. Creating a solid business continuity plan, or BCP, can give you peace of mind that even if you’re not around, things will be well taken care of. (Yes, including the logins for your software, subscriptions and social media accounts!) Once complete, the BCP will lay out everything needed to keep your company running even if life takes an unpredictable turn.
Business continuity is a company’s level of readiness to keep functioning after a disruption or emergency. It’s important to have a recovery plan for various scenarios to ensure that key assets and people are protected.
It might seem intimidating to think about things going wrong, but if you follow the steps below you’ll soon have the basics in place to build on.
First, you will need to do a risk assessment – a formal way of saying ‘make a list of dangers and what to do about them. The issues that could affect your business and brand might include natural disasters, another pandemic, disruptions to your water or power supply, PR problems, cyber attacks, data breaches, absence of key personnel, and other scenarios relevant to your position.
Once this list of risks is complete, you use your strategic brain to write down how each could affect your company, from your day-to-day operations to employees, finances, and any critical assets. But it’s not all doom and gloom: next on your agenda is to come up with strategies for what to do in each scenario, as well as a master list of contact information for key people.
Gather all of this into a document and you have the basis of your BCP. It’s unique to you, and can be as simple or as complicated as your situation demands. Finally, it’s a good idea to test your BCP, and set regular reminders in your calendar to keep it up to date.
What are the kinds of risks you should consider? You know your business better than anyone, but here are some questions to get you started.
Steps of what to include in the risk assessment:
When it comes to bouncing back, it pays to have plan B already banked. That starts with lining up alternate suppliers—pre‑negotiating backup vendors for your most critical inputs, whether that’s raw materials for your manufacturing line or specialist IT support for your systems.
At the same time, automate your data backups so that every server, website and document repository is mirrored off‑site or in the cloud on a regular schedule.
And don’t forget your people: Equip your team with secure VPN access and collaboration tools so they can log in and keep working from anywhere the moment your primary office or systems go offline.
A tight‑knit continuity team is your command centre when disruption hits. Appoint a small group of decision‑makers with clear authority to activate the BCP and steer the recovery effort. Arm them with an up‑to‑date contact directory covering every key stakeholder—from internal leaders and frontline staff to suppliers, lenders and emergency services—so nobody scrambles for numbers at crunch time.
To speed up crisis communications, pre‑draft concise message templates for staff bulletins, client updates and media statements; having these at the ready means you can reassure everyone in hours, not days.
Your BCP only works if everyone knows how to use it. That’s why quarterly tabletop exercises are essential: they let you simulate an incident, walk through each step of the plan and pinpoint any blind spots before they become real‑world headaches.
Treat your BCP as a living document—schedule a full review at least once a year, or whenever you launch a new product, move premises or change a key executive.
And build continuity awareness into your culture by weaving BCP training into new‑hire induction and holding regular refresher sessions, so every team member stays sharp on what to do when the unexpected strikes.
Where do you store the login details and passwords for important business software or social media platforms? Do you have online accounts or subscriptions to keep track of? What about the back end of your website? Whose phone number is given for OTPs or recovering passwords? Where have you saved photos, logos, artwork and other digital assets relating to your brand? Do you make regular backups of what’s on your server? Is your data protected?
Where is the lease for your business premises kept? Do you have a will drawn up, with an outline of how assets should be distributed, as well as details of who has power of attorney? Other essential paperwork could include buy-sell agreements (for partnerships) and life insurance policies to protect other co-owners and families from any negative financial impact.
The guy who handles your IT – does everyone else in the business know his full name, and how to get hold of him? What about your supplier up north who deals with you only over the phone? Are your pivotal stakeholder and supplier contacts listed somewhere safe?
All equipment belonging to the business should be documented, with relevant serial numbers and service history. Do you have insurance policies and ownership certificates for all your company vehicles, or details on repayments if they have been financed and are still being paid off?
It’s not essential to a BCP, but a business valuation could provide some security, or even act as a springboard to further planning. If you have a statement of accounts from SARS on hand, as well as the latest management accounts, and the latest annual financial statements, you could consider applying for funding, should you need it. You don’t need a business plan or financial projections.
Learn more about how to prepare your business for funding here.
A dedicated business funding analyst is available for you. Contact us to discuss your funding goals. Let us help you get it done. You can download some free business continuity plan templates here, and this more detailed template works as a useful guide, even if you’re not in that sector.
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