Enterprise Risk Management, a/k/a Business Continuity, usually is thought of as something only the Big Organizations can afford.
In a sense, that's right.
Most Big Organizations that understand ERM have at least one full-time practitioner; some have staffs.
This luxury is not in a Mom-n-Pop, small to medium business, budget.
Even bringing in an experienced consultant to create a complete plan, to set up an on-going program, may strain the budget to the breaking point. Bringing in an inexperienced consultant, although easing the strain on the budget, jeopardizes the enterprise.
What to do?
Simple.
Mom and Pop can build their own Business Continuity plan.
But that's akin to a lawyer defending himself – or herself – before the Bar. Foolish.
But there is a way.
I put a two-part article on my Web site that tells Mom and Pop and other small business managers how to create a basic plan. It is not a plan, but a “get started in the right direction” instruction.
Let's be honest; ERM is not brain surgery; that you can do “by the numbers.” ERM takes thought; it means playing the “what it” game, and that takes experience to ferret out most – you never get them all – of the threats to an organization and, moreover, how to deal with the threats.
If Mom and Pop will get together with the two-part article and then call in a consultant (I'm available) to vet their plan, then the small business can have a survival plan without killing the budget.
The article, “Mom and Pop need Business Continuity, too,” is linked from http://JohnGlennMBCI.com/articles.html .
John Glenn, MBCI
Enterprise Risk Management practitioner
Hollywood/Fort Lauderdale Florida
JohnGlennMBCI at gmail dot com
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