Product Description

Your business survival depends on a solid business continuity and disaster recover plan. If you are overwhelmed by the very thought of creating a continuity plan for your business, this is the book for you. It acknowledges the day-to-day realities of running an enterprise or any size by taking you step-by-step through the generally accepted best practices, enabling you to construct an appropriately sized recovery plan. It will neither overwhelm you nor break the bank and it will get your business continuity program running surprisingly fast and with a lot less effort than you expect. The author uses straightforward, jargon-free writing and supplements it with checklists, tables and worksheets to illustrate the easiest path to your destination. Once you have the basic structure in place, you can refer back to this guide time and time again to build on your business continuity plan as your business evolves. The simplicity of this reference and the accompanying materials on CD-ROM will allay your concerns and allow you to confidently devote more time and resources to this critical process. As you move through the steps, you will see the practical and measurable results of a business that is becoming more resilient, more agile, and better prepared to take advantage of the next business change.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #449903 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 190 pages

Review
Supports processes, guidelines set forth in DRI International's (DRII) approach to a successful business continuity program. -- Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII)

Supports processes, guidelines set forth in DRI International's (DRII) approach to a successful business continuity program. -- Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII)

Upholds the principles promoted, supported by the Business Continuity Institute and encouraged as part of Business Continuity Management good practices. --Business Continuity Institute (BCI)

Upholds the principles promoted, supported by the Business Continuity Institute and encouraged as part of Business Continuity Management good practices. -- Business Continuity Institute (BCI)

From the Publisher
For some organizations, Business Continuity (BC) Planning is a fact of life - dedicated staff, budget and resources devoted to continually developing, exercising, validating, maintaining and enhancing their ongoing Business Continuity Management programs. For the typical business whether large or small, reality usually gets in the way.

A colleague of mine used to say that Business Continuity had its own specific gravity: It never quite sank to the bottom of the pile of priorities, but never quite rose to the top. It was always next (or next but one) on the list of things that had to be done.

Every business owner or manager knows they need to address business continuity - some day - after putting out day-to-day fires, paying the bills, taking care of customers, and catching their breath. So, what are those of us who have the luck to operate in the real world, supposed to do about business continuity?

The answer is obvious - do what you can realistically accomplish with whatever time and resources you are able to spare. Of course, you should ensure your BC program meets any legal, contractual or regulatory requirements - and meets your fiduciary responsibilities.

In this book and companion CD-ROM, Ken Fulmer has provided us with a clear, easy-to-use resource for business continuity: a step-by-step tool which isn't going to overwhelm you nor break the bank, yet which will provide you with a sound foundation for beginning on the path to effective business continuity. While there are more complex tools and books available, this Guide will get your BC program going surprisingly fast and with a lot less sweat and tears than you might expect. It will also give you a structure which you can continue to build on as your business changes and evolves, and as you are willing and able to devote more resources to business continuity.

My advice to the reader is to do the best you can, as soon as you can, to address the business continuity requirements of your organization - your business' survival may depend on it!

From the Inside Flap
"One of the first things that one needs to do when asked to write the preface to a book, is to determine what you feel the book's niche will be. In this case, the book has a very specific niche as a down-to-earth, practical "primer" or introduction to Business Continuity Planning, particularly for small and medium-sized firms.

"It will also help answer the questions "what have I got myself into?" and "what is covered by Business Continuity Planning?" These are questions which someone with little or no Business Continuity Planning experience will ask themselves immediately after they are informed that they are now responsible for such planning within their firm, or that they are now charged with developing such a plan for the firm.

"Other books can provide more depth of detail that may subsequently be needed, but this book will enable someone with little or no experience to start to put together a project plan, determine what they need to include in the initial structure of the plan and identify those areas that they may need to research further. Someone with more experience will find this book a useful resource to make sure they have covered all the bases. Worksheets, forms and action items are located throughout the book to provide that initial information base on which to build a plan.

"This book provides the basic information to enable firms to start the development of their plans in the "classical" business continuity planning manner. Alternatively if one wishes to approach the plan in a different manner, possibly due to corporate culture issues, the book still provides an information base that can assist one in developing your own project and plan documentation. One other advantage of starting with this book is that the reader starts from a simple beginning and can build to more detail, as that becomes necessary. This point is a key consideration. There is a tendency when developing a Business Continuity Plan to make it more complicated and detailed than may be necessary, particularly in small or medium-sized firms.

"The Rt. Hon. David Blunkett, presently the Home Secretary in the United Kingdom Government, said recently in the Foreword to a new booklet "Expecting the Unexpected: Business Continuity in an Uncertain World" that Business Continuity and planning is just as important for small firms as it is for large corporations and that plans need to be simple but effective, comprehensive but tailored to the needs of the organization.

"This book will put those, particularly in small and medium-sized firms, on the track to develop simple but comprehensive plans tailored to the needs of their organizations. Although written with an IT bias, one can extrapolate from the IT to determine what needs to be done by the business units or from an overall business perspective.These comprise 10 subject areas of a common body of knowledge that characterizes the profession. Each subject area contains a description of the area, the role of the professional and an outline of the knowledge that the professional should demonstrate within that subject area.

Melvin Musson, Fellow, Business Continuity Institute (FBCI) Business Continuity Planning Manager, Internal Audit Edward Jones, St. Louis, Missouri

Customer Reviews

Best That I Have Read
I have read a number of books on Business Continuity Planning. This book is by far the best. I have suggested to my business contacts to read this book and they all say they have benefited from the information. Even if your company decides not to develop a complete plan, you will find valuable steps you can take that will reduce your disaster risk easily and without major funding. It is set up like a workbook and takes you logically and methodically through the planning process from start to finish. I found it particulary beneficial that this guide enabled me to clearly explain to senior management the importance of developing a plan and the steps we should follow to develop ours. The book may not be for the seasoned BCP planner, but it is an invaluable resource for those of us who need to know the right questions to ask and what to do with the information once you get the answer. The CD-ROM that is included provides easy to follow worksheets, forms, samples and links to other resources that can be found on the Internet.

Mr. Fulmer has done us a great favor by putting this step-by-step guide together. I highly recommend it to anyone who newly faces this callenging task or needs to update their existing plan.

Good Basic Planner
Business Continuity Planning
by Kenneth L. Fulmer, CBCP

The Business Continuity Planning book focuses on guiding the reader to a plan and, to the book's credit, does not stray from this subject. The Planning Forms on CD-ROM are numerous and detailed. These forms can be of great assistance to the reader who is trying to develop a plan.

Business Continuity Planning is designed for use by entry-level professionals as well as by interested non-professionals. The book is very easily to read and is logically organized. The reader should know that there is an emphasis on the non-technical aspects of Information Technology / Disaster Recovery planning.

Douglas M. Henderson, FSA, CBCP
Disaster Management, Inc.

THE RIGHT BOOK FOR US
I think we all have come to understand that business continuity and recovery planning are important for all organizations to invest time and effort in, no matter what their size. We are a small company without many staff members to put this kind of plan together, so we studied most of the available books on the subject, looking for the one best suited to our needs.

We wanted advice written by a knowledgeable expert - someone who understands and appreciates what a challenge this is for a company like ours to put so much effort into something that doesn't appear to bring much benefit at the outset. Ken Fulmer makes a very good case that a business continuity plan is well worth the effort and he showed us a relatively easy and accessible approach to completing ours. Fulmer's book is the one we chose to use after all our source reviews. We highly recommend it.