Prepare a practical business continuity plan

Identify critical operations and dependencies

List payroll, customer delivery, billing, banking, tax deadlines, records, and key communications. Record the people, systems, vendors, locations, and documents each depends on. Estimate how long each function can be interrupted and set practical recovery priorities. Include the loss of a key owner or administrator in addition to events such as a power outage, storm, or technology failure.

Create usable backup arrangements

Assign primary and backup responsibilities, keep emergency contacts available safely, and document how authorized people obtain needed access. Test data recovery and identify an alternative communication method. Keep sensitive information protected during the disruption. Review insurance and contractual notice requirements with appropriate advisers. A plan that depends on one unavailable person remembering a password has not solved the dependency it was written to address.

Practice a scenario and update the plan

Walk through a realistic event: the office is unavailable for three days, email is compromised, or a key supplier stops serving you. Ask who makes decisions, how customers are informed, how payroll is funded, and what evidence is preserved. Record unanswered questions and fix them. Reassess cash needs, recovery costs, and upcoming obligations during the exercise, then schedule a repeat after significant system or staffing changes.

• Rank critical functions and their dependencies.
• Assign backups and protect emergency access arrangements.
• Test data restoration and alternative communications.
• Practice a scenario and close the gaps it reveals.