Every business is facing two different kinds of challenges. They need to deal with day-to-day stuff like keeping existing customers, finding new customers, improving productivity and efficiency. You need to constantly motivate your employees. These are constant and repetitive challenges and they may evolve with time. However, they will change very slowly. Companies also need to deal with unexpected challenges. Your business can get hit with unexpected challenges like downtime, data breach, and security breaches. Thus, a business continuity plan is very important for every business. In this article, we are going to talk about the importance of a business continuity plan.

It can protect your business from disasters

Most businesses will never recover from a disaster. If you don’t have a business continuity plan, then you will probably go out of business. A business continuity plan can be the deciding factor in this situation. It can protect your business from going out of business. More than 50% of small business owners think that they need at least 3 months for recovering from a normal disaster. You will lose a lot of money and opportunities during this time frame. Also, you might never recover from a serious disaster. A business continuity plan can help you in speeding up the recovery process. It will ensure that your business can recover much faster.

Downtime is expensive

Downtime can be very expensive for your small business. According to a report by the Aberdeen Group, small businesses can lose up to $8,600 per hour of downtime. These numbers can also rise if you have been hit by a serious disaster. If your network is down, then your business will lose a lot of money. A business continuity plan will ensure that you can get your business back online. This will help you in saving both money and business opportunities.

Disasters don’t have a fixed size

Many companies only consider hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes as a disaster. However, they forget about human errors, data breaches, security breaches, hardware failure, and power outages. These things can also take your whole network down. Your business might be safe from all the natural disasters. Your business continuity plan will help you in protecting your business from disasters like data and security breaches. You can quickly recover your data and applications.

Ransomware

Ransomware is becoming more popular with time. Hackers can quickly make money by using this ransomware. Most small businesses don’t have access to any IT security team. Hence, they can’t protect their network from these ransomware attacks. According to Kaspersky, ransomware attacks are hitting businesses after every 30 seconds. We already know about famous attacks like Petya and WannCry. The sad thing is that these attacks won’t be the last. Hackers are working on new ransomware attackers. Thus, you should always have a business continuity plan. It will ensure that your business can quickly recover from the latest ransomware attacks. If you don’t have a business continuity plan, then you might need to pay thousands of dollars to hackers. Also, there is no guarantee that they will restore your data after getting the payment. You need to ensure that you can restore your data without sending any money.

Competitive edge

This is probably the most important advantage of having a business continuity plan. If you have a business continuity plan, then it will ensure that you can restore your systems. However, your competitors will waste a lot of time due to a lack of clarity. Your business continuity plan will help you in quickly recovering your systems. It will help you in increasing your customer retention rate.

It will sharpen your focus

You need to answer various important questions when you are creating your business continuity plan. It will help you in focusing on the important things. Also, if you already have a business continuity plan, then you will have clarity during any disaster. You will already have a clear plan that you can execute during a disaster. If you don’t have a plan, then your entire team will panic during a disaster. You can avoid this by creating a business continuity plan in advance.

Better Communication

Communication is the most important thing during a disaster. Your employees should know about their roles. If you have a business continuity plan, then your employees will already know about their responsibilities. You will also have a communication method that you can use for communicating with your team. A business continuity plan will help you in avoiding chaos. You will have clear guidelines that you can follow for recovering your systems. Also, you should ensure that your employees and stakeholders are communicating with each other. They should work together during the recovery process.

Business Reputation

If your business is hit by a disaster, then your customers will also check your response. You can impress your customers by quickly recovering your systems. This will help you in creating a better business reputation. Thus, you should always a business continuity plan.

Peace of mind

The most important thing that a business continuity plan will give you is a sense of peace. You can follow the guidelines during a disaster. This will ensure that you can bounce back from any situation. If you don’t have a business continuity plan, then your entire team will panic during a disaster.

Conclusion

The importance of a business continuity plan is increasing with time. MSPs like Bleuwire can help you in creating a custom business continuity plan. They will first listen to your unique priorities and challenges. Every business is facing different challenges. Bleuwire will help you in addressing these challenges. They have access to an expert IT team. Thus, they will make sure that you are prepared for all the challenges. They can help you in quickly recovering your data and systems. If you need more information regarding a business continuity plan, then you can contact Bleuwire.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™ services and solutions in how we can help your business.