What we do - Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery:

There are many reasons why Business Continuity Planning is vital - as individuals, we would not contemplate not insuring our homes or vehicles – oddly enough, some organisations don’t take even very basic precautions to protect the future of their business.

Business Continuity planning is not simply about IT and data recovery – a good Disaster Recovery plan looks at the bigger picture – the effect on the physical aspects of the business, such as premises relocation and information management, as well as how you and the management team would react and communicate in an emergency situation. 

So, how does BB Hobbes do this?

We work with you to prepare:

We put in place all you need to ensure your business is ready should an unexpected event happen.  This includes an initial risk assessment and business impact analysis to ensure that the critical issues for your particular business are identified and well understood prior to the production of a formal plan.

We support you:

We can help to implement the day to day processes that will ensure that your plan remains valid and up-to-date and that your employees are aware of the impact that changes within your business can have on the business continuity plan.  We also ensure that the plan encapsulates the principles promoted within the new British Standard BS25999 and can work with you to test your plan – you then know it is effective and each team member understands it and their role within it.

Furthermore, we care about your plan and work with you to ensure it’s readiness at all times – some consultancies sell you an “off the shelf” solution that languishes in a box and then is out of date and useless when that emergency strikes – BB Hobbes undertake regular Health Checks of your plan to ensure that it is still valid and executable if needed.

Your investment:

Unlike insurance, implementing a Business Continuity plan is generally a one off cost and a very worthwhile investment.  Even with the best insurance policy in the world you can not insure against the damage to the reputation of your business in the face of an event – not meeting the needs of your customers with something as simple as not answering the phones can cause damage that is very hard to repair.   
Additionally, something we hear regularly from clients is how much addition value the undertaking of BC planning gives them – the time invested by ourselves looking at the client’s business and making suggestions of potential improvements to working practices and IT infrastructure means that the process does provide a very real and immediate return on investment.

Your Responsibility:

Business Continuity Planning is no longer a luxury – our friends at the Government have made it a necessity.   Changes to The Companies Act 2006 means that company directors not only have to report annually on risks to the business along with their associated mitigations, but they are also required to exercise a duty of care and demonstrate appropriate arrangements are in place to safeguard the business. 
Additionally, there are moves underway within Local Government to make their suppliers undertake BC planning in a serious and structured way.  The introduction of the British Standard has, for the first time, made Business Continuity planning a quantifiable exercise and increasingly, larger businesses will insist that any contractors with whom they work comply.

Take the first step:

BB Hobbes can assist you on the right track with Business Continuity planning in our simple and effective way – we won’t tell you scare stories, we won’t make things more complex than they need to be and we certainly won’t sell you a solution that is not 100% correct for your business. 
Contact Jimmy Budge or Alison Stone for further details and to make an appointment for a free no obligation meeting to discuss how we can help you.