On today's episode we're talking COOP, or Continuity of Operations Planning. It's estimated that as many as 50 percent of businesses impacted by a disaster will fail and that number is even higher for small businesses. You're likely operating some form of a COOP plan due to COVID-19 and you may not have even realized it and hopefully you had a plan before everything hit the fan. Unfortunately, we're seeing business close up shop because they were not prepared.
COOP at it's most basic level is planning for how you'll maintain your businesses critical functions before, during, and after a major disruption. What exactly does it cover? Some basic things to plan for include how you'll communicate and access data, how staff will work, what systems must remain operational, how long you can function in a contingency mode, organizing your teams, delegating authority, and how you'll get back to normal operations.
What can you do to prepare? FEMA has developed two online courses specific to COOP planning during a pandemic.
IS 520: Introduction to Continuity of Operations Planning for Pandemic Influenzas and IS 522: Exercising Continuity Plans for Pandemic Course.
These courses provide a great intro to the COOP process and can help build a solid foundation of training and experience.
There are a number of different standards to help assess and guide your COOP planning efforts and many organizations that can assist you from federal agencies to private sector consultants. Continuity of Operations Planning is a critical process that will help to ensure that your organization can survive any disaster. If you need assistance with your cyber COOP planning, contact us at NuHarbor Security today.
As always, thank you to our sponsor, Nuharbor security your end to end provider of security services and solutions If your looking for smart security solutions for your business and a security partner that actually gives a *BEEP*, visit us at www.nuharborsecurity.com
