HOMELAND SECURITY Business Continuity: Planning for pandemic
International movements of people and goods have halted in the wake of COVID-19. With economic consequences of the outbreak presenting a potentially devastating ‘secondary infection’, business continuity specialist Laura Toplis has some timely advice.
Laura Toplis is Director of BCP Builder, an online Business Continuity Plan template service, and was previously Business Resilience and Continuity Coordinator for the New Zealand Ambulance Service.
COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. As of 10 March 2020, there were 113,603 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, with a death-rate of 3.5 percent. The border controls and drop in customer confidence have contributed to major downturns in the aviation and tourism industries. The impacts of a global pandemic, however, are unlikely to stop at these industries. It is essential that all businesses look closely at their operations, organisational culture and planning to ensure their business survives this outbreak. The New Zealand government has recently approved a ‘Business Continuity Package’ in response to COVID-19, which includes a variety of forms of financial help. This financial assistance will come as a relief to many businesses, but this package should work in conjunction with a comprehensive business continuity plan prepared by business operators. Business threats The biggest threats a pandemic presents to businesses include: • Loss of staff – staff who are sick or required to self-isolate will need to remain at home. You will need to consider if it is possible for them to work from home (if they are well enough). • Loss of supply chain – You may no longer be able to procure essential items to your supply chain, or your suppliers could go out of business. • Loss of customers – travel
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restrictions and risk averse buying behaviour could result in a significant downturn for your business. Why a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)? There are many reasons that an organisation should have a Business Continuity Plan. The pressure to produce a plan may come internally or externally from the organisation, including such drivers as: • External threats such as COVID-19 • Desire to improve Organisational Resilience – this is likely to come from a manager who identifies gaps that need to be filled. These resilience gaps will be highlighted with a Business Continuity Plan and a process can begin to allocate the appropriate resources to the problem/s. • Client request – more and more clients are being advised to check the resilience of their supply chain, which means that your larger clients may be asking you to produce a Business Continuity Plan. • Audit – whether your organisation is being audited or a client is being audited (see above) it is very likely you will be asked to produce your Business Continuity Plan. When it comes to Business Continuity it’s important to focus on the effect of any disruption rather than the cause. The goal is to effectively deal with any negative incidents that could impact your business. Line of Defence
