Companies confronting an unprecedented era of compounding, consecutive, and concurrent crises.
The question then turns to, what business continuity planning tools should businesses turn to address the deteriorating threat environment?
We're lay out the specific digital capabilities below. Read on to find out.
Unique threat environment demands advanced business continuity planning software
So, what’s going on? From supply-chain disruption to ransomware attacks to severe weather, businesses face a unique threat environment forcing them to prioritize organizational resilience.
Many are doing so. Both Resilience and Business Continuity are becoming more strategic, and more companies are staffing a dedicated Resilience function.
However, the data also shows that organizations have been reluctant to move from manual processes to business continuity planning software.
Those organizations, therefore, are likely missing the efficiencies those products bring.
Digital capabilities to consider in business continuity planning software
But not all products are created equal. If you’re seeking efficiency – and who isn’t – here are the business continuity planning capabilities they should be looking at:
1. A comprehensive approach to resilience
Threats aren’t just becoming more numerous; they’re becoming more heterogenous, too. This calls out for a more holistic approach to resilience.
A singular capability fitting this criterion is the integrated resilience workspace. Such a workspace not only manages business continuity and resilience but also related solution areas, e.g., work safety, security, emergency and disaster management, incident management, and risk.
This innovation enables organizations to not only expand into various areas of operations without the need for multiple solutions but also manage a wholly integrated business continuity and resilience management program on a common information foundation.
2. Automated incident response
As disruptions multiply, they also become quicker. Automated incident plan activation specifically reduces response times in critical situations.
Automated incident response also helps to manage highly complex scenarios by considering a range of data inputs and conditions. Businesses should, therefore, consider technologies that have harnessed these powers to modernize how plans and playbooks are activated.
With the use of these capabilities, organizations define their recovery strategies and associated plans and playbooks and can then associate these elements with products, services, process, and activities.
3. Dynamic planning
As the range of possible threat scenarios expands, business continuity planning itself must adapt.
Businesses should, therefore, consider business continuity planning software that functions as a plan. That means when organizations need to develop their business continuity plans (BCPs), all the data they have previously entered must seamlessly come together.
This design prevents managers from having to sift through documents to find the data they need; meanwhile, the risk of users’ referencing out-of-date BCPs is removed.
4. Prioritized activity reviews
Tying it all together is ease of use. Indeed, there’s a generalized desire for business continuity functionality to be as easy as possible specifically for activity owners who need to input valuable information.
Organizations should consider prioritized activity review functionality. Thanks to it, users can now conveniently send a prioritized activity review directly to an activity owner’s email through a workflow. Activity owners will then be guided through the activity review process using guided workflow functionality.
Finally, the simultaneous accumulation and durability of critical events is forcing businesses to prioritize resilience and business continuity like never before. But that prioritization should have a technological component, as well.
For more capabilities to consider, download our Business Continuity Software Buyer’s Guide.
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