Business Continuity is a company's ability to maintain essential functions during and after a disaster or disruption. Think of it like a backup plan that keeps a business running when unexpected problems occur. This could include natural disasters, cyber attacks, power outages, or even pandemics. People who work in Business Continuity help create and manage these plans to protect their company's operations, employees, and reputation. They're like the emergency preparedness experts of the business world, making sure a company can keep serving customers and generating revenue even when things go wrong.
Led Business Continuity planning for a Fortune 500 company across 12 global locations
Developed and implemented Business Continuity Management strategies that reduced potential downtime by 40%
Created comprehensive Business Continuity Plan that successfully guided company operations during COVID-19 pandemic
Typical job title: "Business Continuity Managers"
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Q: How would you develop and implement a global business continuity strategy for a company with multiple locations?
Expected Answer: Look for answers that discuss conducting risk assessments across different regions, coordinating with local teams, considering cultural differences, and creating scalable plans that work across various locations while meeting local regulations.
Q: Tell me about a time when you had to activate a business continuity plan. What were the results?
Expected Answer: Candidate should describe a real crisis situation, explain their decision-making process, how they communicated with stakeholders, and what lessons were learned from the experience.
Q: What elements would you include in a business impact analysis?
Expected Answer: Should mention identifying critical business functions, determining recovery time objectives, assessing potential losses, and prioritizing systems and processes for recovery.
Q: How do you ensure business continuity plans stay current and effective?
Expected Answer: Look for discussion of regular testing, updates based on business changes, training programs, and periodic reviews with stakeholders.
Q: What is the difference between business continuity and disaster recovery?
Expected Answer: Should explain that business continuity is the overall strategy for maintaining operations, while disaster recovery is specifically about restoring IT systems and infrastructure after a disruption.
Q: How would you communicate a business continuity plan to employees?
Expected Answer: Should discuss creating clear documentation, conducting training sessions, using multiple communication channels, and ensuring everyone knows their role.