Incidents and disasters are unexpected – by definition. You aren’t going to get any warning of the need to execute your emergency response and incident management plans and you won’t have time to gather together the things you need to be able to execute the plans. Therefore, it is important that you have prepared for…
Tag Archive: Monday Tip
Distinguish between short term backups and long term archives
Backup systems are not the right place to store data for long periods of time There is a lot of confusion in the business community when it comes to protecting data. The problem is that few businesses understand the difference between short term backups and long term archives. This confusion has arisen because backup has…
Are people really your most precious asset?
People may be important in your business: just make sure they aren’t also your greatest source of risk. It has become a bit of a cliche that people are the most precious asset in a business; but that doesn’t make it any less true. However, it is also the case that people can be the…
Tip – Have a communications plan
OK, let’s assume for the moment that something bad has happened: e.g. the water supply has failed (as happened here in St Neots last week) and you have had to close your office, school or factory for the day. How will you let people know not to come to the site? Answer: you need a…
Tip – Don’t leave the door open
Fire doors and walls are there to protect you – make sure you keep them closed. What sort of door do I mean? A physical door as in for example a fire door? Or do I mean a virtual door like your Internet connection? Doors exist to block a hole. They block the hole for…
Tip – concentrate on the critical bits
The objective of business continuity planning is to protect the critical activities in your organisation from unnecessary disruption. But what is a critical activity? Criticality, for the purposes of business continuity planning, is determined by the degree to which the organisation would suffer if that activity were to be disrupted. The impact on the organisation…
Suppliers should be chosen on Value, not Price – Here’s why
This may seem like a strange Monday Tip for a blog focused on Business Continuity Management and Business Continuity Planning, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Here’s why. What is Value Value, or Value for Money, is a better comparative measure than price in my opinion. Value is a slightly subjective judgement in…
Tip – Expect things to fail
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? I’m often intrigued by the reasons I get back from business owners and IT Managers when I ask the question: How often to you perform a test restore of your backups? Answers I’ve had include:…
Know who can access your data
Do you outsource your IT support? Read on Are you in a regulated industry or do you hold any information that can be classed as being confidential? Have you outsourced your IT support? Then you have a critical question to answer. Has your IT support company signed a Non Disclosure Agreement that binds them to…
Review your Business Continuity Plans regularly
Businesses change over time. Make sure your plans reflect reality If you have made the effort to analyse your business processes and prepare plans to protect them, you may be tempted to think that your work is done. Unfortunately, the truth is different. Unless your plans are so generic as to be of limited utility,…
Tag Archive: Monday Tip
Tip – Have your “Grab Bag” ready
Incidents and disasters are unexpected – by definition. You aren’t going to get any warning of the need to execute your emergency response and incident management plans and you won’t have time to gather together the things you need to be able to execute the plans. Therefore, it is important that you have prepared for…
Distinguish between short term backups and long term archives
Backup systems are not the right place to store data for long periods of time There is a lot of confusion in the business community when it comes to protecting data. The problem is that few businesses understand the difference between short term backups and long term archives. This confusion has arisen because backup has…
Are people really your most precious asset?
People may be important in your business: just make sure they aren’t also your greatest source of risk. It has become a bit of a cliche that people are the most precious asset in a business; but that doesn’t make it any less true. However, it is also the case that people can be the…
Tip – Have a communications plan
OK, let’s assume for the moment that something bad has happened: e.g. the water supply has failed (as happened here in St Neots last week) and you have had to close your office, school or factory for the day. How will you let people know not to come to the site? Answer: you need a…
Tip – Don’t leave the door open
Fire doors and walls are there to protect you – make sure you keep them closed. What sort of door do I mean? A physical door as in for example a fire door? Or do I mean a virtual door like your Internet connection? Doors exist to block a hole. They block the hole for…
Tip – concentrate on the critical bits
The objective of business continuity planning is to protect the critical activities in your organisation from unnecessary disruption. But what is a critical activity? Criticality, for the purposes of business continuity planning, is determined by the degree to which the organisation would suffer if that activity were to be disrupted. The impact on the organisation…
Suppliers should be chosen on Value, not Price – Here’s why
This may seem like a strange Monday Tip for a blog focused on Business Continuity Management and Business Continuity Planning, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Here’s why. What is Value Value, or Value for Money, is a better comparative measure than price in my opinion. Value is a slightly subjective judgement in…
Tip – Expect things to fail
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? I’m often intrigued by the reasons I get back from business owners and IT Managers when I ask the question: How often to you perform a test restore of your backups? Answers I’ve had include:…
Know who can access your data
Do you outsource your IT support? Read on Are you in a regulated industry or do you hold any information that can be classed as being confidential? Have you outsourced your IT support? Then you have a critical question to answer. Has your IT support company signed a Non Disclosure Agreement that binds them to…
Review your Business Continuity Plans regularly
Businesses change over time. Make sure your plans reflect reality If you have made the effort to analyse your business processes and prepare plans to protect them, you may be tempted to think that your work is done. Unfortunately, the truth is different. Unless your plans are so generic as to be of limited utility,…
Tag Archive: Monday Tip
Tip – Have your “Grab Bag” ready
Incidents and disasters are unexpected – by definition. You aren’t going to get any warning of the need to execute your emergency response and incident management plans and you won’t have time to gather together the things you need to be able to execute the plans. Therefore, it is important that you have prepared for…
Distinguish between short term backups and long term archives
Backup systems are not the right place to store data for long periods of time There is a lot of confusion in the business community when it comes to protecting data. The problem is that few businesses understand the difference between short term backups and long term archives. This confusion has arisen because backup has…
Are people really your most precious asset?
People may be important in your business: just make sure they aren’t also your greatest source of risk. It has become a bit of a cliche that people are the most precious asset in a business; but that doesn’t make it any less true. However, it is also the case that people can be the…
Tip – Have a communications plan
OK, let’s assume for the moment that something bad has happened: e.g. the water supply has failed (as happened here in St Neots last week) and you have had to close your office, school or factory for the day. How will you let people know not to come to the site? Answer: you need a…
Tip – Don’t leave the door open
Fire doors and walls are there to protect you – make sure you keep them closed. What sort of door do I mean? A physical door as in for example a fire door? Or do I mean a virtual door like your Internet connection? Doors exist to block a hole. They block the hole for…
Tip – concentrate on the critical bits
The objective of business continuity planning is to protect the critical activities in your organisation from unnecessary disruption. But what is a critical activity? Criticality, for the purposes of business continuity planning, is determined by the degree to which the organisation would suffer if that activity were to be disrupted. The impact on the organisation…
Suppliers should be chosen on Value, not Price – Here’s why
This may seem like a strange Monday Tip for a blog focused on Business Continuity Management and Business Continuity Planning, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Here’s why. What is Value Value, or Value for Money, is a better comparative measure than price in my opinion. Value is a slightly subjective judgement in…
Tip – Expect things to fail
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? I’m often intrigued by the reasons I get back from business owners and IT Managers when I ask the question: How often to you perform a test restore of your backups? Answers I’ve had include:…
Know who can access your data
Do you outsource your IT support? Read on Are you in a regulated industry or do you hold any information that can be classed as being confidential? Have you outsourced your IT support? Then you have a critical question to answer. Has your IT support company signed a Non Disclosure Agreement that binds them to…
Review your Business Continuity Plans regularly
Businesses change over time. Make sure your plans reflect reality If you have made the effort to analyse your business processes and prepare plans to protect them, you may be tempted to think that your work is done. Unfortunately, the truth is different. Unless your plans are so generic as to be of limited utility,…
