For many organisations a new year is a time of significant change, with re-organisations, new business plans and new challenges ahead. But in the midst of all this change, business continuity management is often overlooked.

It’s important to ensure that any significant changes are reflected in our business continuity plans. It may be useful to ask the following questions :

• If the organisation’s structure changes, does the business continuity plan structure need to change too?;
• If departments or teams are re-organised, does the recovery team organisation need to change too?;
• If key members of staff move around, what information in the business continuity plans needs to be updated?;
• Are the underlying strategies and continuity solutions still applicable or is it time to revisit them?;
• Are there any new training requirements or awareness issues that need to be addressed?;
• Have all new projects considered business continuity from the outset?

So out with the old and in with the new – but make sure that the business continuity plans don’t get left behind.

Wishing you a happy, prosperous and peaceful new year.