While 2020 has been a challenging year so far, it has given us a better understanding of the importance of business continuity within companies. Beyond the health crisis, the soaring rise in cyber attacks is pushing companies to adapt quickly to not only continue to serve their customers, but also to protect their employees and assets. This is why we must seize the opportunity of this transformation in work environments to develop, if we have not already done so, a business continuity plan.

The Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is the product of an approach that is not only part of a cybersecurity context, but also of the digital transformation of companies.

Cybersecurity rests on three major pillars: confidentiality, integrity and availability. It is on this last pillar that a business continuity plan is based. The current pandemic will one day come to an end, but what will remain is a profoundly and permanently transformed work environment. If you’re looking for a reason to begin questioning and digitally transforming your organization, this year’s upheaval is a reason delivered on a silver platter.

Designing a BCP is a long-term process that involves all areas of the company and different technological expertise. It is first and foremost an opportunity to question what is essential and must be protected as a priority to ensure the survival of the company. Then, to review existing processes to optimize them. The information technologies that support business needs must be examined, enhanced and modernized because they are the technical means to implement a recovery plan, an essential component of the BCP. As can be seen, the development of a business continuity plan mobilizes considerable company resources and requires an overview of all services, the technological environment, processes and interdependencies in order to ensure business continuity as much as possible while minimizing disruptions and constraints for employees, customers and partners. It is therefore a structuring approach. Finally, a BCP must also take into account the issue of governance, which will be at the heart of the implementation of this plan in the event of a crisis.