Business continuity plan best practice does not happen overnight, whatever the size of your company. Figuring out how to optimise the chances for a business to continue successful operations, whatever the circumstances is a process that can take considerable time. Finding a way to show that progress is being made above all in the early stages can be just as challenging. One way to tackle the problem is to take a leaf out of the books of supply chain and six sigma disciplines, and to define a BCP enabling project to get off to a good start. However, there are right and wrong ways to carry out such a project.
The problem often encountered with enabling projects, in whatever part of the organisation, is that they are set in motion without appropriate goals. While experimentation can be good because it creates new dynamics, it still needs to be aligned to the fundamental mission of the business. The goal is not just to “see if we can find some business continuity plan best practice”, but to target a specific BCP best practice and to measure how well you do compared to some reasonable and relevant standard of performance.
Which goal should you pick? Preferably, look for one that will bring you a clear, short-term win that will then give you momentum to implement business continuity plan best practice in other areas as well. Focus on one aspect within risk management, incident response or recovery planning, for example. An enabling project to find an improved way to mitigate or prepare for a particular risk, in a way that makes savings for the organisation, might be one goal. A simple project to measurably increase BC awareness and preparedness in an organisation through simple BC exercises might be another.