Right about now that wonderfully well thought through and easily followed business continuity plan that you prepared in advance of a major shift in the business environment is of great benefit. What a relief…..
Right?
Although, perhaps you are like the substantial majority of CFOs, MDs and CIOs and kept putting off that annoying little trivial task. There’ll be plenty of time to worry about that later, won’t there?
Except there isn’t right now is there. We are in that time of change.
We never think that major change will happen to us. Until it does. We look forward to eons of endless good fortune, sunny skies with fluffy bunnies and rainbows. Until someone comes too close to a bat. Then things change. That’s when we really wish we have a plan that helped with business continuity…..(the clue is kind of there in the name…). As a cub scout leader we teach our kids to “Be Prepared”. We impress upon them how important that preparedness is.
Funny how we seem to forget those lessons as we get older.
The companies that will weather this storm best are the ones who didn’t put off the planning. The companies that invested in good governance. The ones who at least looked at the processes and key decisions that matter to their business; their BCP. The ones who put together those boring “we’ll never need them” documents and process maps so that their teams, colleagues and the executives themselves would have guidance if that fan had that brown smelly stuff hit it at high speed.
We see advanced nations scrambling to deal with the virus. They simply weren’t prepared. They did not have the plans in place. They did not have clear processes to follow, and people did not know what to do. Of the ones who did, many had let their preparations lapse without checking that they would be ready.
There are many people on every form of media these days, quite rightly, singing the praises of the HR, financial risk, health and emergency services as well as other teams who rely on effective processes, governance and policy. The very same people who had rolled their eyes at the “Policy Police” during settled and easier times. The praise is aimed at the calm surety that comes from clear processes that guide through the uncertainty to the outcomes we need to keep society and businesses going.
I sincerely hope that you are one of those who benefited from preparing well. One of those who sought the help of process specialists to bring together effective plans. That you and your teams learned from those plans before you needed them.
If that isn’t where you find yourself, then I hope that there remains enough time for you, and those who depend on you, to make the call and find the help you need; to make the plans that allow your business to continue.
