About Us

Our Approach

At BCC we know that almost all businesses are concerned with Value, Growth, Profit, Cash and Turnover (we say almost all because some businesses are indeed lifestyle businesses and are frequently not concerned with all or some of these). We also know, for sure, that ALL businesses, lifestyle businesses included, need to be concerned with Business Continuity. We say this with some certainty because if the business goes up in flames, almost certainly the lifestyle goes too. So Business Continuity affects every business.

BCC also believes that just as there are clear descriptive ladders for business development, and eCommerce, so there is for Business Continuity as well. It depends what sort of business you are as to where you need to be on the step-ladder — but you do need to be on the ladder.

The Business Continuity Step-Ladder

The step-ladder, as opposed to a ladder, has a firm base. This base is really the rest of your business:

The combination of firm business foundations, crisis management procedures, disaster recovery procedures, and business continuity procedures, plus a few particular business processes, gives a resilient business.

Why Is Having A Resilient Business Important?

For The Chief Executive and the Chief Financial Officer:

The value of having a resilient business lies in the positive difference it makes between the net asset value of a company and its market value.

For The Accountants:

The optimum value of a business can be worked out as a multiple of profit and/or turnover and intangibles, times a factor. Intangibles may consist of brand value — but increasingly it includes an element of how resilient the business is. In Japan, since 2006, business insurance premiums have been adjusted downwards for those businesses with a clear business continuity plan. In the UK elements of the same approach are coming into the general market; regulated industries have tended to have this type of approach for some time.

This can be written thus:

V = (∫P + ∫T + ∫I ) �

Value = A Function of Profit plus a Function of Turnover plus a Function of Intangibles Times a Factor. (Different businesses have different approaches to each but all business values are assessed against this ort of equation).

Any change (Δ) to each of these variables clearly has an effect on the value of a business.

So in terms of the resilience of a business we could re-write the equation:

V = (∫P + ∫T + ∫I + ∫R)�

Where I is now other intangibles and R is a measure of resilience in the business.

Any positive or negative Δ in R has an effect on V.

For Everyone Else:

Resilience stops your business folding if there is a major disaster.

Business Continuity 101

This website is full of all sorts of VERY IMPORTANT ADVICE on how to build resilient businesses. It is an industry all of its own. But if you talk to people who have had a business disaster the things that really help you will probably not find in all the fine business advice that follows.

So here are the things you really MUST do to stay alive in any circumstances:

1. Have money. You need money. One of the most difficult things to do after a disaster strikes is to get more money out of your bank manager. Somehow you will have to keep going — so try and work it out in advance.
2. Know who your customers are and how to contact them — and it’s no good saying that the customer lists are inside the building.
3. Know how to keep your customers supplied. They will put up with a day or two of chaos — but after that they’ll be looking elsewhere. So you need to know how you are going to keep them supplied after Day 2.
4. Know how to travel. You will need to see people. So have a means of travelling.
5. Know how to communicate. You will need to communicate with staff and customers and suppliers.

And here are some things you really SHOULD do:

1. Have an inventory, preferably a video, of everything in your premises.
2. Employ a loss adjuster straight away — this can save thousands of pounds.
3. Have an alternative HQ.
4. Have all your data backed up off site (and NOT on tape)
5. Trust your staff — they will work hard to protect their jobs.

The rest of the story is as complex as you and your insurance company want to make it — which is what the rest of this website is all about! So please feel free to use it as a valuable resource and for help and guidance at any time please feel free to call us on 08547 715 715.