Labs deliver critical data, information, and technical results for their stakeholders who rely on the outcomes of the lab for their stability and growth. What happens when a significant event disrupts the lab, and it can no longer deliver the technical outcomes to its stakeholders? The lab risks the loss of financial support, reputation, and longevity. To maintain the lab’s ability to deliver its mission and purpose, lab managers need to develop plans to ensure business continuity in the face of significant challenges.
Here are five tips to help you ensure your lab’s delivery in the face of significant obstacles.
Potential business disruptions
Disruptions that can upend the lab’s ability to deliver come in various forms, such as extended power outages, IT failures, fires, disease, and natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, or blizzards. Lab managers need to evaluate the risks of these different disruptions and start to build plans for how the lab will continue to support its stakeholders if it experiences one of these disruptions.
Consequences of inadequate planning
Significant disruptions can impact the lab with little warning. If the lab doesn’t do adequate planning in advance, there can be serious impacts that include the loss of key stakeholders, financial instability, broken trust, loss of precious samples and technical work, failures in regulatory compliance, and staff safety. While these disruptions are rare and few labs face major disruptions each year, the consequences can be major and threaten the future of the lab.
Identify critical lab functions
During and after a major disruption, the lab cannot expect everything to go on as before. The lab must prioritize its approach to sustaining delivery by identifying and ranking the critical lab functions. Map the key work functions in the lab and understand who depends on what for delivery. It’s important to understand the stakeholders’ perspective on what is most important to them.
Building a business continuity plan
The business continuity plan (BCP) is a documented approach to preserving critical lab functions during and after a major disruption. It comprises several sections: vulnerability assessment, business impact analysis, responsible roles, emergency responses, communication plans, and prevention and recovery strategies. Thinking through each step of the plan helps the lab prepare to recover from the disruption.
Continuity strategies
The plan will include strategies to continue delivering for stakeholders during a disruption. These plans will address staff training, alternate suppliers, options within the organization, options outside the organization, alternate providers, access to data and systems, and the protection of critical samples and animals. It is important to understand the real capabilities of each option and to test other providers and suppliers to ensure their products will serve your needs if called upon.
Closing thought
The planning involved in producing a BCP enables the lab to survive a major disruption and to critically evaluate its processes and workflows to look for improvements.
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