Press Release 
Think Big. Start Small. Act now!
Think Big. Start Small. Act now!
Think Big. Start Small. Act now!
It's Never Too Late for Small Medium Enterprises to Have a BC Plan
 |
SINGAPORE, 5 Aug 2010 - Why do SMEs place low priority on business continuity planning? Stalwart supporters of good business continuity management cite that unjustified operational costs including the lack of human and infrastructural resources; fire-fighting with declining sales dominate and override the daily business agenda of many businesses. Owners of many of these decade-old, flood-fire-survivor businesses also question the need for investing on business continuity. |
Then again, not having a viable Business Continuity Plan (BCP) will not only cost you an arm and leg. In the event of disasters, your entire business could be wiped out. Insurance will not cover losses such as reputation, customer goodwill, market share, cash flow control, winning back lost customers, business opportunities, vital & critical paper record, knowledge employees and not to mention legal liability and negative publicity. However, adopting a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) does not have to be a large scale and costly undertaking because managing the resources is directly relative to the size of the organization. Hence, it only makes sense that a SME adopts simpler strategies such as working at the Managing Director’s house, hosting a back-up server in the CEO’s home office and conferencing via Skype. Rather than a large scale simulation test, performing a simple rehearsal would tell what may be missing from the plan.
In response to the recent spate of flash floods in Orchard Road, Singapore that caught many businesses by surprise, Colonel Anwar Abdullah, Director of Operations for Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), said SMEs “cannot take chances” when it comes to getting ready for emergencies. Although SMEs face the challenge of having limited resources when compared to multinational companies, they should still be equipped to deal with crises so that critical business functions can continue as usual when a crisis occurs, at a recent Meet-the-Expert seminar organized by Business Continuity Management (BCM) Institute.
President of BCM Institute, Dr Goh Moh Heng recommends sitting down and thinking through a company’s critical functions, planning what to do if there is a certain event and documenting this plan, so everyone knows the role they are supposed to play. “First, identify what’s critical to your business,” he says. Expanding on this, Dr Goh explained that once the main critical function has been identified, it must have top-down consensus. "The next question to consider is: well, we may not have access to our office, so what should we do then? This is where the Managing Director or CEO of the SME decides on the recovery strategies - a core element of business continuity planning,” concluded Dr Goh.
“By definition an entrepreneur is someone who is enterprising, flexible, decisive and understands risks - these are all skills that serve him or her well in a crisis,” noted Mr. Virasak Sutanthavibul, Executive Vice-President with Bangkok Bank in Bangkok Post. So think big and start making a small investment in business continuity planning that will enable you to build up your business and operation values. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you need more details on a Business Continuity Plan.
For media enquiries, please contact:
BCM Institute
T: 65 6748 1528 | E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it