Focus on business continuity management & incident response planning

Threats can come from various sources. Business leaders should prepare their strategies for resiliency by considering the following:

• Unplanned IT outages. Any unplanned outages can affect operations and have consistently been a top risk for years.
• Cybersecurity. The risk of cybersecurity breaches has increased exponentially in recent years.
• Climate change and natural disasters. Protecting against threats of natural disasters, while unpredictable, is incredibly important from a business continuity and resiliency standpoint. 
• Staffing shortages. While reports show unemployment is down, some businesses regularly report difficulty hiring and retaining good staff. 
• Supply chain and third-party outages. Many businesses are heavily reliant on their third parties, which is why supply chain and vendors should be part of business continuity management and incident response planning. 
• Economic uncertainty. Economic shifts can affect numerous areas of a business, including business continuity management and incident response strategies. 

One of the most important steps in incident response planning is regulated reporting – when is a business required to report an incident, and to what extent? But regulators aren’t the only reason to consider incident response planning. Proper planning can help organizations mitigate risks to data, financial responsibility, and more after an incident. The ability to identify, contain, and respond to incidents quickly is an area where minutes matter.

When working toward the goal of minimizing downtime, leaders can consider these areas of focus for both incident response planning and business continuity management:

Preparation

• Gain leadership support
• Develop appropriate teams
• Invest in training 

Tabletop exercises (simulations)

• Scenario selection
• Stakeholder involvement
• Facilitators
• Documentation and reporting
• Communication plans
• Actionable recommendations

Testing

• Incident response and disaster recovery tests
• Assessment of the incident response process and documentation
• Penetration testing – performance of a realistic and simulated attack, unannounced

Training

• Conduct annual training for all employees
• Identify and report incidents
• Develop dedicated training for incident response and disaster recovery test members
• Investigate technical training tools and technology
• Expand remedial training
• Direct hands-on tests
• Share threat intelligence

Assigning resources to these vital initiatives can be hard for leaders who are also managing the day to day of a business – but business continuity management and incident response planning are foundational efforts that help an organization get back on track when work is interrupted.