In March 2023, a cyber attack on Manchester-based logistics firm JH Automotive brought their operations to a standstill for three days. The cost? Over £150,000 in lost revenue, emergency IT support, and customer compensation. The shocking part? They had a business continuity plan – it just didn’t work when they needed it most.
This scenario plays out across Greater Manchester every month. Businesses invest time and money creating business continuity plans (BCPs), then discover during a real crisis that their plan is either outdated, incomplete, or simply impractical. As Manchester’s leading IT support specialists, we’ve helped dozens of local businesses recover from disasters, and the pattern is always the same: the companies that bounce back quickly have plans that actually work.
So what separates an effective business continuity plan from one that looks good on paper but fails in practice? Let’s explore how to build a BCP that will genuinely protect your Manchester business when disaster strikes.
Understanding What Business Continuity Really Means
Business continuity isn’t just about having backups – it’s about maintaining critical business functions during and after a disruptive incident. Whether that’s a cyber attack on your Sale office, flooding in central Manchester, a key supplier going bust, or a pandemic forcing remote working, your BCP should enable you to keep serving customers and generating revenue.
A proper BCP covers three critical timeframes:
Immediate response (0-24 hours): Your emergency procedures to protect people, data, and critical systems
Short-term recovery (1-30 days): How you’ll maintain essential operations while resolving the incident
Long-term restoration (30+ days): Your plan to return to full normal operations
Most Manchester businesses focus heavily on the first phase but neglect the others, creating plans that might help in the immediate aftermath but leave them struggling for weeks or months afterwards.
The Fatal Flaws in Most Business Continuity Plans
After reviewing hundreds of BCPs across Manchester and Sale, we see the same critical mistakes repeatedly:
The “Set and Forget” Approach
The most common error is treating your BCP as a one-time exercise. We regularly encounter companies whose plans reference staff members who left years ago, systems that no longer exist, and processes that have completely changed. One Altrincham manufacturer we worked with discovered their emergency contact was a supplier that had gone out of business in 2019.
Technology Tunnel Vision
Many businesses focus exclusively on IT disaster recovery while ignoring other critical dependencies. Your servers might be perfectly backed up, but what happens if your key supplier can’t deliver materials, your finance team can’t access the office, or your main customer cancels orders due to the disruption?
Unrealistic Recovery Assumptions
Plans often assume best-case scenarios: that backups will restore perfectly, that alternative suppliers will be available immediately, that staff will be contactable and able to work. Real disasters are messy, and effective plans account for Murphy’s Law.
No Practice Runs
The most dangerous BCP is one that’s never been tested. We’ve seen elaborate plans fail because no one knew the actual password for the backup system, or because the “alternative work location” had no internet connection.
Building a Business Continuity Plan That Actually Works
Step 1: Conduct a Proper Business Impact Analysis
Before writing a single procedure, you need to understand what really matters to your business. This means identifying:
Critical business functions: What activities absolutely must continue for your business to survive? For most Manchester businesses, this includes customer service, order processing, financial transactions, and key production or service delivery processes.
Dependencies: What systems, people, suppliers, and facilities does each critical function rely on? Include both obvious dependencies (like your CRM system) and hidden ones (like the specific staff member who knows how to process returns).
Maximum tolerable downtimes: How long can each critical function be unavailable before it threatens your business survival? Be realistic – while you’d prefer zero downtime, some functions might survive being offline for hours or even days.
Financial impacts: Calculate the actual cost of downtime for each function, including lost revenue, additional expenses, regulatory penalties, and customer defection.
Step 2: Design Resilient Workarounds
For each critical function, design at least two alternative ways to maintain operations:
Alternative technology solutions: If your main CRM goes down, how will you track customer interactions? If your VoIP phones fail, how will customers reach you? Cloud-based backups are excellent, but also consider manual processes for short-term continuity.
Alternative locations: Identify where your team could work if your main office becomes unavailable. This might include home working, a co-working space in Manchester city centre, or reciprocal arrangements with other local businesses.
Alternative suppliers: Maintain relationships with backup suppliers, even if you rarely use them. The time to build these relationships is before you need them, not during a crisis.
Cross-trained staff: Ensure that critical knowledge isn’t locked in one person’s head. Train multiple team members on essential processes, and document procedures clearly.
Step 3: Create Clear, Actionable Procedures
Your BCP should read like a cookbook – clear, specific instructions that anyone can follow under pressure. Each procedure should include:
Trigger conditions: Exactly when should this procedure be activated?
Step-by-step actions: What specific steps should be taken, in what order?
Responsible parties: Who is responsible for each action? Include backup contacts.
Decision points: What criteria determine whether to escalate or change approach?
Success criteria: How do you know when this phase is complete?
Step 4: Establish Robust Communication Plans
During a crisis, communication often breaks down. Your BCP should include:
Internal communication: How will you reach all staff members? Consider that email might be unavailable and mobile networks could be congested.
Customer communication: Prepare template messages for different scenarios, and identify multiple channels for reaching customers (website, social media, direct calls).
Supplier and partner communication: Maintain up-to-date contact lists for all critical suppliers and business partners.
Public communication: Prepare holding statements for local media or industry publications.
Step 5: Test, Review, and Improve
This is where most Manchester businesses fail. Testing your BCP isn’t optional – it’s the only way to know if it works. Implement a regular testing schedule:
Quarterly desktop exercises: Gather your crisis team and walk through scenarios on paper.
Annual simulation exercises: Actually activate parts of your plan to test real-world effectiveness.
Post-incident reviews: After any real disruption, review what worked and what didn’t.
Update your BCP at least annually, and immediately after any major business changes.
The Technology Foundation
While business continuity extends far beyond IT, technology forms the foundation of most modern BCPs. Key elements include:
Robust data backups: Automated, tested backups stored both locally and in the cloud
Secure remote access: VPN solutions that allow staff to work securely from anywhere
Communication tools: Video conferencing, messaging, and collaboration platforms
Mobile device management: Policies and tools to manage company data on personal devices
Cyber security measures: Protection against the attacks that cause many business disruptions
Getting Professional Help
Creating an effective BCP requires expertise across multiple areas – risk management, IT, operations, legal compliance, and crisis communications. Many Manchester businesses benefit from working with specialists who can provide objective assessment and industry best practices.
At PC Express, we regularly help Manchester and Sale businesses assess their IT resilience and develop practical continuity plans. We understand the specific challenges facing businesses in our area, from the increased flood risks along the Mersey valley to the cyber threats targeting Manchester’s growing tech sector.
The Manchester Advantage
Building business continuity isn’t just about surviving disasters – it’s about competitive advantage. Manchester businesses with robust BCPs can commit to service levels that competitors can’t match, win contracts that require demonstrated resilience, and maintain customer loyalty during difficult periods.
Start building your business continuity plan today, before you need it. Because when disaster strikes – and statistically, it will – the time for planning has already passed.
Need help building a business continuity plan that actually works? PC Express provides comprehensive IT resilience assessments for Manchester and Sale businesses. Contact us today to discuss your business continuity requirements.
