There is a saying...If you don't know where you are going, any course will take you there.  Sometimes having a guide who has been down on this journey a few times can help. Whether you are working on business continuity, it's likely you need a combination of three things to be successful: 1) Time, 2) Tools, and 3) Talent. Lack any one of those and your program is likely to stumble. You may or may not need consultant support to compensate for any limitations, but if you do decide that you need outside support, it would be our honor to share ideas and approaches with you. As an example, below is our take on things to think about when getting developing a business continuity program.

We'll provide support remotely or on-site; whatever meets your needs.

This service is designed to launch (or re-launch) your program. Elements include:

• Business continuity training for key stakeholders
  
• Development of the business continuity project implementation plan
  
• Development of plan approach and template
  
• Design of the Business Impact Analysis and Risk Assessment 
  
• Program maintenance and management procedures
  

This service is designed to help you get more out of your business continuity program. Elements include recommendations stemming from the following activities:

• Review of existing plans and policy documents
  
• Review of Risk Assessment and Business Impact Assessment
  
• Review of planning approach and format
  
• Review of program maintenance approach: plan reviews, updates, training, and exercises
  

This service is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of your plans. Elements include

• Plan alignment with Business Impact Analysis
• Recommendations regarding the user-friendliness of the plan
• Completeness of resource information: contacts, information technologies, records, vendors, etc.
• Opportunities for planning improvements and efficiencies

This service is designed to help your establish a foundation for planning by providing you with a simple, clear set of priorities and resources to support business continuity planning. BIA elements include:

• Definition of critical functions
  
• Critical function recovery timeframe requirements
  
• Resources required to perform critical functions

This service is designed to assist organizations in using today's most prolific information and communication vehicle: social media. Services include:

• Development of social media objectives
  
• Development of social media strategy
  
• Procedures for social media monitoring and messaging
  
• Establishing an initial presence on select social media tools
  

IT Disaster Recovery plans help organizations maintain critical information processing support to critical functions. This services includes:

• Identification of key IT risks and threats
  
• Identification of IT infrastructure recovery options
  
• Development of recovery procedures
  
• Organization of an IT disaster recovery team
• Lists of essential IT resources
• Documentation of overall disaster recovery plan