A business continuity plan includes a defined set of planning to ensure that an organization continues to perform its critical business functions despite a disaster. The plan includes identifying an organization's external and internal threats and then devising a recovery plan keeping in mind the company's physical and material assets. In other words, it provides a roadmap for your business to continue in the event of a major accident or disaster without interruption or at least reach an operational state in a relatively short period of time. Steps to Create a Successful Business Continuity Plan1. Document: First, fill out a document mentioning your organization's internal key employees and their backup, your critical business functions cannot operate without these people. It is important to consider the most significant job functions you perform on a daily basis and the people who fill these positions. Also, inquire about employees who can handle job functions when the primary job holder is unavailable. Create a list of all these people containing all their contact information, including their business phone number and other contact numbers. be it landline or mobile phone number, personal email ID to be easily reachable in case of emergency.2. Telecommuting: Identify people within the organization who can telecommute when required. It's important to know who can conduct business from a home office and who can't. Ensure critical personnel identified in Step 1 are able to telework when needed.3. List of External Contacts: It is important to document a list of all vital external contacts including vendors, contractors, legal advisors, service providers, IT consultants. Mention in the list pe...... in the center of the sheet ......and- Participate in a short training session involving all employees and make them familiar with the BCP plan, so that they are not left empty in case of an emergency. Ensure that people who are not on the critical list are also included and trained on the same.10. Test: After putting in so much effort, it is wise to test the plan once so that you know whether you can practically carry it out or not. You may realize that your plan has some shortcomings and needs improvement or modification. And when you actually find yourself in a serious situation, the situations can be very different. So keep updating or revising your plan otherwise it will fail miserably in the hour of need. Most businesses often neglect to come up with a BCP plan in advance, but to ensure the smooth running of business operations, a well thought out and prepared plan needs to experience minimal loss and quick recovery.