Be prepared.

It's a simple motto, made famous through the Boy Scouts of America, however, it can easily be used in companies and organizations throughout today's working world. A comprehensive business continuity plan is necessary to keep day-to-day operations running smoothly during times of unexpected occurrences.  

It's crucial for companies to take the extra step and ensure that they performed a thorough business risk assessment, in order to properly plan for a multitude of situations. Following that, businesses will better understand the steps that should be taken to provide for more expedient business resumption.

According to a survey conducted by Forrester and the Disaster Recovery Business Journal, 48 percent of companies found that the biggest hindrance in their business continuity plans was a lack of training and awareness. Additionally, 37 percent said that the existing plan didn't adequately address emergency communications.

"A resilient organization is like a spring: It absorbs the impact and bounces back," according to an article in InformationWeek, describing the importance of businesses properly preparing for different types of disasters.

The news source went on to explain that companies often have separate "silos" of preparation designed for different scenarios. For example, disaster recovery and data breaches would be handled by different managers. However, while each situation might require a unique response plan, there are carryovers between them.

Each needs business impact analysis, important points of integration and a requirement to see high availability and security embedded into business technology strategy. An organization will be better able to achieve resiliency – and spring back – when the different silos are able to come together.

Partnering with a business continuity consultant can help ensure that employees at all levels within a company are properly trained for a multitude of scenarios. When risk management training is instilled early, and reviewed often, an organization will be better able to stay resilient and bounce back.