Today’s businesses face various risks including financial, market, reputation, legal and operational threats.
Business continuity involves operational risk to a company – its purpose is to identify the threats, vulnerabilities and failure points from production to supply of products or services.
Management needs to identify operational risks through risk assessment. A starting point could be the company’s risk register (if available) or a risk workshop held by top management.
They’ll need to seek the risks of disruption to the company’s important activities. This includes a thorough review of processes, systems, information, people, assets and outsource partners.
Natural risks can include extreme weather and climate change. Human-made risks include those in supply chains, information security, fire and explosions, systems failure and legal compliance.
Risks need further analysis through a business impact analysis. Each key risk should include strategies to mitigate, reduce, transfer or eliminate risk.
One of the key responsibilities of top management is to review risks or issues not adequately addressed in previous risk assessments and ensure that the company’s key risks are updated.
