A previous tip (‘Ready for anything?‘) suggested exercising and testing our business continuity strategies, solutions and plans against a number of scenarios, as it’s likely that different scenarios will highlight different issues.

So here are a few examples to give you some food for thought :

• Denial of access to your premises. This could be short, long-term or indefinite and could be due to either a neighbour’s problem or one of your own (examples include fire, flood, asbestos, chemical spill, industrial accident or crime); 
• Computer hardware stolen or impounded under an evidence preservation order (sometimes referred to as an ‘Anton Piller Notice’);
• Supply chain disruption (e.g. due to a protest or a fuel strike or the unavailability of components or raw materials) or the failure of a key supplier; 
• A prolonged utility failure, such as a power or telecommunications outage, affecting just your site or the local area;
• Negative media attention, as a result of the activities of the organisation or its employees; 
• IT outage and/or significant data loss; 
• Loss or unavailability of key employees or multiple employees (due to accident, illness, or even a lottery win).

The possibilities are almost endless, limited only by your imagination and the willingness of the participants to get involved.

You might draw the line at a zombie attack, as used by at least one organisation recently. Then again, you might not!