Creating a Business Continuity Plan that actually works

In his latest column, Greg Du-feu, Managing Director of Dufeu IT, explains how joinery businesses can create a Business Continuity Plan that actually works.

If your business went offline tomorrow — could you keep producing, quoting, and delivering on time?

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) ensures you can. It’s your playbook for keeping operations running during a crisis — whether that’s a cyberattack, power failure, flood, or server crash.

Let’s walk through how to write a BCP that’s realistic, practical, and proven to work for a busy joinery firm.

Step 1: Identify Your Critical Processes

Ask yourself: what must never stop?
For most joinery businesses, that includes:

• CNC operations and design access
• Accounts and payroll
• Customer communication and quoting
• Supplier orders and deliveries

Everything else can wait.

Step 2: Assess the Risks

What could stop these key processes?

• Ransomware attack
• Internet or power outage
• Machine controller failure
• Data corruption or deletion
• Staff absence

Rate each risk by likelihood and impact. This forms the foundation of your plan.

Step 3: Define Recovery Objectives

Set clear, measurable targets:

• Recovery Time Objective (RTO): How fast can you restore operations?
• Recovery Point Objective (RPO): How much data can you afford to lose?

Example: “We must restore quoting and design within 8 hours with no more than 1 day’s lost data.”

Step 4: Document Recovery Steps

Include step-by-step instructions for:

• Accessing backups
• Contacting your IT provider
• Reconnecting CNC or design systems
• Notifying clients and suppliers

Keep this document printed and stored off-site.

Step 5: Assign Responsibilities

Everyone should know their role.

• IT provider: Restore systems.
• Workshop manager: Manage manual workflows.
• Office staff: Communicate with customers and suppliers.
• Owner/Director: Approve recovery and external messaging.

Step 6: Plan for Manual Workarounds

If systems are offline, how will you continue operating?

• Use printed job sheets.
• Communicate via mobile instead of email.
• Manually log deliveries or production updates.

The goal is continuity, not perfection.

Step 7: Test the Plan

Don’t wait for a crisis to find out it doesn’t work. Run simulations every six months. Pretend the main PC or network is offline and see how staff respond.

Step 8: Review and Improve

After each test or real disruption, update the plan. What worked well? What didn’t?

Step 9: Keep It Simple

Your BCP doesn’t need to be a 50-page policy. A concise, 3–5 page document that’s easy to follow will be far more effective under pressure.

Step 10: Integrate with Cybersecurity

Your BCP should link directly with your Disaster Recovery Plan and Incident Response Plan. Together, they form your business resilience framework.

Real-World Example

A commercial joinery firm in the East Midlands experienced a ransomware attack in 2023. Their BCP allowed them to switch to manual job sheets, continue production, and deliver all projects on time — even while systems were being rebuilt.

A competitor hit by the same attack was offline for two weeks and lost multiple contracts.

Final Word

A Business Continuity Plan doesn’t just keep your operations alive — it keeps your promises to clients.

Follow Dufeu IT on LinkedIn, connect with me personally, or visit dufeu-it.co.uk/contact to learn how to build and test your continuity plan with expert guidance.