You would possibly suppose the time period “enterprise continuity” solely applies to recovering from pure disasters. Nonetheless, enterprise disruptions can emerge in a number of methods—from a single worker’s departure, a provide chain glitch or communication breakdowns.
Navigating as we speak’s tumultuous economic system includes challenges and unexpected disruptions. Enterprise continuity planning—essential for companies of all sizes—ensures seamless operations, whether or not disruptions are a tiny tremor or a seismic shift.
Erika Andresen, founding father of EaaS Consulting, LLC, underscores this in her e book How to Not Kill Your Business: Grow Your Business in Any Environment, Navigate Volatility, and Successfully Recover When Things Go Wrong. She defines enterprise continuity as the important thing to securing and making certain uninterrupted enterprise operations, providing resilience within the face of each disasters and disruptions, whether or not pure or human-made.
“This isn’t speculated to be a one-off, check-the-box occasion. It’s a dwelling doc that can preserve a enterprise thriving, purchasers glad and staff employed.”
Inspiration behind How one can Not Kill Your Enterprise
When Andresen first launched her consulting agency, she focused mom-and-pop retailers, feeling they most wanted enterprise continuity planning.
“I used to be coming… from a spot of serving to those that wanted it most—and small companies, by and enormous, are utterly unaware of the follow of enterprise continuity,” says Andresen, noting that world firms and enormous firms have been training it for many years. Andresen felt there was no cause for small firms to not have interaction in enterprise continuity, too, so she got down to change that.
However in her preliminary market analysis, she found smaller retailers had no real interest in spending cash on enterprise continuity planning. As a substitute of permitting this to kill her enterprise, Andresen pivoted, writing her e book with small enterprise homeowners high of thoughts. “I need to transfer the needle for $5 on Kindle or $20 for paperback to guard their funding and preserve their dream alive.”
3 suggestions for enterprise continuity planning
Many small companies delay motion, both ready to develop or till a disaster looms. Andresen highlights the peril of optimism bias—the assumption you’ll solely have constructive experiences and the chances of adverse experiences received’t affect you. “Ready solely causes issues to occur at a slower tempo,” she says, noting that proactive measures higher put together you for future disruptions.
Andresen shares a beneficial lesson from one in every of her solopreneur purchasers. Initially, the consumer was hesitant to use enterprise continuity rules till she grew her enterprise. However her vulnerabilities grew to become obvious via a collection of questioning from Andresen. After implementing Andresen’s options, the consumer realized she couldn’t develop with out the safety enterprise continuity provides. “Enterprise continuity buys you confidence, safety, alternative and time,” Andresen says.
1. Proactive preparation for volatility
Proactively getting ready for and navigating volatility solely begins with making a enterprise continuity plan. Andresen says you additionally want to coach and train the plan—beginning on the high.
“With out management buy-in, the preparedness for an efficient enterprise continuity plan plummets,” she explains. Employees coaching and exercising the plan permits everybody to study what to do and what might go improper. “It’s higher to determine this out upfront than throughout the catastrophe,” Andresen says, noting that working forward gives a chance to repair the plan. “This isn’t speculated to be a one-off, check-the-box occasion. It’s a dwelling doc that can preserve a enterprise thriving, purchasers glad and staff employed.”
2. Domesticate resilience
Andresen weaves the theme of resilience all through her e book, guiding readers via self-reflection and prompting them to determine blind spots or unrecognized ache factors. As an illustration, she notes that the pandemic shifted the worth paradigm towards staff as a very powerful asset. “You domesticate organizational resilience by investing within the individuals who be just right for you, who execute the procedures the way in which you need and who’re the face of your organization after they work together with purchasers,” Andresen says.
Additionally, Andresen advises that trying forward and anticipating dangers creates an agile firm. “Agility promotes creativity and development. Don’t see it as a price or chore—it’s a chance,” she explains.
Homeowners can construct their private resilience by creating companies that don’t want them current 24/7. “Getting forward of dangers, putting in management measures for any single factors of failure and constructing redundancies—all a part of the enterprise continuity course of—will give enterprise homeowners the liberty to step away, recharge and belief that the enterprise will proceed thriving.”
3. Balancing development with stability and sustainability
Andresen gives a stark actuality verify in a growth-focused world. Growth, she contends, is unimaginable with out stability, and stability is unattainable with out enterprise continuity. Constructing a enterprise continuity plan permits homeowners to study the ins and outs of their enterprise and determine their essential operations essential for survival, she explains.
Most homeowners make lots of assumptions about what these essential operations are. However with out having performed a threat evaluation with a enterprise affect evaluation, she argues, they could be investing money and time within the improper technique. “The price of not doing enterprise continuity is simply too excessive: lack of market share, lack of prospects, lack of staff, lack of repute and, in the end, the lack of your enterprise,” she explains. “How are you going to develop from that? You may’t.”
This text initially appeared within the Could/June 2024 difficulty of SUCCESS journal. Picture courtesy of Erika Andresen