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A solid business continuity plan would ensure that all normal business operations can resume during a disaster. This will normally include access to all necessary data and a secure place for where employees can continue to work. To be successful, a business continuity plan ensures unfettered operation of all network connections, online systems, phones, network drives, servers, and business applications with no downtime. 
COVID-19 has sort of brought a new meaning to the term "disaster management'. In a normal disaster people are certain of when it started and when it will end. With this latest global pandemic no one really seems to know when it will end, and a lot of business have had to be creative to stay afloat. Other businesses may not entirely recover. 
Clothing stores for example will lose billions of dollars' worth of business everyday they are shut as many countries go on a lockdown. Not to mention with the global pandemic, fashion seems to be at the back of everyone's mind as we are all focusing on the number one priority which is to stay alive. While this may seem like the end, a lot of businesses can look at this as an opportunity to explore other times of businesses avenues which they would have otherwise never would have explored before had it not been for this pandemic. 
Steps in Creating a business Continuity Plan 
At a time like this when most businesses have been confronted with unexpected business disruptions, investment firms must react swiftly, methodically and successfully or else risk significant financial loss. This level of response will require extensive business continuity planning to ensure all aspects of a firm's business are evaluated and protected. 
There are a couple of steps that a company can take and to be able to do this effectively the secret is in understanding the impact the disacter situation has had and creating policies that will respond to this COVID 19 pandemic. 
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<strong>Risk Assessment 
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Evaluate of the company's risks and exposures 
Assess of the potential impact of various business disruption scenarios within the business 
Determine of the most likely threat scenarios 
Assess of telecommunication recovery options and communication plans 
Prioritize findings and development of a roadmap 
Business Impact Analysis (BIA) 
During this phase the company will now have to collect the following information which will prove to be very helpful in developing the BCP. 
Recovery assumptions, including Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) 
Critical business processes and workflows as well as the supporting production applications Interdependencies, both internal and external Critical staff including backups, skill sets, primary and secondary contacts 
Future endeavours that may impact recovery Special circumstances 
Strategy and Plan Development 
Validate that the recovery times that you have stated in your plan are obtainable and meet the objectives that are stated in the BCP. They should easily be available and readily accessible to staff. 
During this development phase, it is very important to incorporate many perspectives from various staff and all departments to help map the overall company feel and organizational focus. Once the plan is developed, you can have an executive or management team review and sign off on the plan. 
Plan Testing & Maintenance 
The final critical element of a business continuity plan is to ensure that it is tested and maintained on a regular basis. This includes: 
Conducting periodic tabletop and simulation exercises to ensure key stakeholders are comfortable with the plan steps 
Executing bi-annual plan reviews 
Performing annual Business Impact Assessments 
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