By BKD staff |

Businesses face numerous pressures that can threaten the organization’s viability and sustainability if a disaster occurs. Potential threats include:

• Natural (tornado, earthquake, hurricane, flood, etc.)
• Environmental (fire, network failure, power outage, etc.)
• Business market (legal/regulatory issues, competitive pressures, reputational risks, etc.)
• Social (terrorism, pandemic, social media, network intrusions/attacks, etc.)
• Human (strikes, work stoppages, etc.)
• Financial/operational (cost of capital, inherent process risks, calendar-based risk, etc.)

This list certainly isn’t all-inclusive. Many other threats could interrupt normal business operations. It’s imperative that specific threats to a particular organization be identified and prioritized by developing a Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis (RA/BIA). Upon completion of an RA/BIA, a Business Continuity Plan can be created.