PCA: What is a business continuity plan?

Every company must be prepared to face a crisis, regardless of its nature: economic, social, financial, health, natural disaster, war, cyber attack, computer failure, etc. Because a poorly managed disaster can have disastrous consequences on the company economically as well as in terms of reputation. Some companies even end up bankrupt because they did not know how to anticipate the situation and plan an appropriate response.

In this period of international health crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), businesses are facing a difficult and unprecedented situation. To survive, it is essential that they plan and implement emergency solutions to ensure the continuity of their business.

Have you ever heard of a business continuity plan (or BCP)? It is a strategic document that describes how to respond in the event of a major crisis and that could save your business.

What is PCA?

The business continuity plan is part of a risk management approach. Its objective is to help the company identify and manage the hazards and uncertainties caused by adverse and unexpected events that seriously interfere with its usual functioning.

According to Wikipedia, the PCA is a strategic document that allows any type of organization (businesses, communities, communities, institutions, schools, etc.) to continue to function, even in the event of a major disaster or crisis, even if it means going into a degraded mode, i.e. trying to provide the service considered essential, despite the lack of resources in personnel, energy, transport, etc. The aim of the PCA is to put in place a strategy that contributes to minimizing the impacts of crisis on the organization's activity.

The standard ISO 22301:2019 which relates to business continuity management systems also provides important definitions:

• business continuity management is “a holistic management process that identifies potential threats to an organization, as well as the impacts that these threats, if they materialize, may have on operations related to the organization's activity, and that provides a framework for building the resilience of the organization, with an effective response capacity maintaining the interests of its main stakeholders, its reputation, its brand and its value-producing activities.”
• business continuity is “the ability of an organization to continue to deliver products and provide services within acceptable timeframes at a predefined capacity during a disruption.”
• The PCA is defined as a set of “documented information that guides an organization to respond to a disruption and resume, restore, and restore product delivery and service delivery consistent with its business continuity goals.”

In summary, the business continuity plan allows you to:

• identify business risks, threats and vulnerabilities,
• put in place an operational response adapted to the situation,
• maintain essential activities, possibly in degraded mode,
• prepare for the end of the crisis and quickly return to a normal situation.

Why set up a PCA?

It is difficult to be well prepared and to know how to deal with a critical situation. That's why the business continuity plan was created. It contributes to strengthening the resilience and sustainability of a company in the event of a serious crisis.

In particular, it makes it possible to:

• minimize losses and reduce (if possible) the duration of the crisis,
• keep its commitments to its customers and partners,
• maintain its position and visibility in the market.

Just as you prepare your communication plan to get the right message out to the right recipients, you need to put risk management in place to know how to react if something goes wrong. You will thus be able to identify and assess all the hazards, threats and potential uncertainties, their occurrence and their impacts on the functioning of your business.

When an event as shocking and unexpected as the one we are currently experiencing occurs, it is difficult to react thoughtfully, avoiding being guided by fear, panic, or anger. Hence the importance and the need to have a PCA that makes it possible to analyze all potential risks and their consequences in order to be able to face different scenarios while being reactive, effective and above all objective.

What does PCA contain?

The business continuity plan should present the strategy adopted as well as the procedures to be followed to deal with the crisis situation that the company is facing. It is THE reference document to best respond to the disturbances encountered and resume a predefined level of operation.

To do this, it contains:

• a description of the context,
• the objectives and obligations of the company as well as the essential activities;
• the risks identified, the severity of their impact and their plausibility;
• the strategy to adopt for business continuity;
• the roles of each person, the procedures to be followed and the resources required,
• the crisis management system,
• indicators to measure and assess the successful implementation of the PCA.

Note that the PCA is scalable because it must adapt to changing business priorities in this period of crisis.

Conclusion

In order to emerge from a crisis with minimum damage, a company must be prepared and best predict the continuity of your business.

Thanks to the business continuity plan, you better manage any type of crisis by providing an effective response for a rapid and normal resumption of your activities. Such an attitude will prevent you from bankruptcy, improve your brand image and strengthen your credibility with your employees, customers and partners.

To find out more about the PCA, you can consult the Guide to creating a business continuity plan carried out by the General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN).