Business Continuity Planning and Risk Management Report (Assessment)

Exclusively available on Available only on

Business continuity management enables the business to respond to crisis situations effectively as well as protect the business interests. The specific BCM strategies are demonstrated in the following table:

	Specific Strategy	Description	Desired Outcome	Costs	Risks
1	Insurance	Protection against financial losses.	It is covering the costs that will go towards repairs or other emergency-connected situations.	High. The company may not have an emergency.	The insurance companies become selective, thus, some emergencies may not be covered.
2	Distributive Warehousing	Warehousing of finished products in locations other than manufacturing.	Making sure that some products are available if the manufacturing stops.	The costs that will go towards the lease of additional warehousing sights.	Idle asset insufficiencies in times of normal operations.
3	Working from Homes or Hotels	The remote use of laptops, air-cards, cellular phones, and other technological advances.	It is able to access data through the Internet in critical situations.	Low. The costs go only towards the organization, not transportation, security, etc.	Ineffective in a community-wide crisis.
4	Alternative Suppliers	We are ensuring a continuous supply of raw materials.	They are having a supply of materials when the primary supplier is disrupted.	Depending on the supplier.	Risks of quality loss.
5	Outsourcing	Other organizations perform certain work functions.	We are utilizing the working space as well as giving other organizations an opportunity to work.	High or low. Depending on the company, the work is being outsourced to.	The risk is transferred to another outsourcing vendor.
6	Pre-Positioning	Relocation of physical assets to a safe location before the crisis event.	They are making sure that the company’s employees are safe during crisis situations like floods or hurricanes.	High. Cost for transportation, lodging, taking care of the employees’ families (Engemann & Henderson, 2012. p. 65).	In a crisis, any risk is possible. Transportation may be dangerous, as well.
7	Portable Equipment	I possess portable equipment that can supply critical services like water or compressed air.	It is able to quickly secure the equipment in the new location.	High. Portable equipment tends to be much more expensive.	Risks connected with the equipment damage.
8	Work Hours Maximization	Expansion of work hours or hours of operation.	In a crisis in one location, it is possible to add an additional shift to another.	High. More working hours means more payment.	They are putting pressure on the employees.
9	Distributive Manufacturing	They are performing the same tasks at multiple locations.	In case of a crisis, we are able to perform the necessary task at another location.	The costs that will go towards the lease of additional locations.	Difficulties with minimizing inventories in times of normal operations.
10	Personal Protection Equipment	Devices for reducing or eliminating a crisis situation.	We are ensuring safety during an emergency.	The cost of such devices is quite high.	They may not be a sufficient way for crisis elimination.

The top three Business Continuity strategies identified in the table above include outsourcing, distributive manufacturing, and insurance. The first two, outsourcing and distributive manufacturing, allow the company to distribute the manufacturing or operational efforts to other locations, which is beneficial when it comes to risk management. Business outsourcing is a socio-technical innovation that, apart from risk management, provides a competitive business advantage.

On the other hand, it requires a varied set of social and technical skills for achieving success (Click & Duening, 2005, p. 8). Distributive manufacturing is overtaking traditional manufacturing due to its convenience. For example, the company is able to reduce costs on logistics by manufacturing products near their end destination (Robinson, 2014, para. 9). Lastly, insurance is a top BCM strategy that protects the key physical assets of the company.

When it comes to eliminating the risks of the above-mentioned BCM strategies, it’s suitable to examine the same top three strategies. Firstly, outsourcing rarely means eliminating the risks connected with the business; it just means that some business risks are transferred to another vendor. Outsourcing mitigation involves establishing main goals before undertaking a project as well as managing the goals. Being aware of vendor-related management helps to eliminate the issues that will arise during the project launch. The most important mitigation step is paying attention to every problem and addressing it before it becomes impossible to manage (Click & Duening, 2005, p. 205).

The distributed manufacturing system lacks a single point of control when it comes to decision-making because the process is spread across many entities. Such lack can cause a variety of security risks as well as other risks (Kühnle, 2010, p. 132). The mitigation step in eliminating the risks is establishing a clear and concise communication pattern across all processing departments.

The main risk associated with business insurance is that the company will not pay the coverage. In fact, the unwillingness to pay is the issue that arises the most frequently. To manage this risk, it is advisable for the company to keep pristine records because the work done by the company before the accident occurred is vital. Moreover, knowing the insurance policies and rights makes it easier for the business to manage any issues connected with insurance (Fuhrmann, 2011, para. 7).

Lastly, the implementation of various specific strategies can be successful in cases when they are compatible. For example, the combination of outsourcing and distributed manufacturing is a great way of reducing costs and maximizing processing efforts.

References

Click, R., & Duening, T. (2005). Business Process Oursourcing. The Competitive Advantage. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Engemann, K., & Henderson, D. (2012). Business Continuity and Risk Management. Brookfield, CT: Rothstein Associates Inc.

Fuhrmann, R. (2011). What to Do When Your Insurance Company Won’t Pay. Web.

Kühnle, H. (2010). Distributed Manufacturing: Paradigm, Concepts, Solutions and Examples. London, UK: Springer.

Robinson, A. (2014). The Rise of Distributed Manufacturing and 7 Advantages over Traditional Manufacturing. Web.

More related papers