Every business must ask themselves:

• What are my business-critical dependencies on technology?
• What could go wrong with the technology?
• How could it affect my business?
• How likely is it to happen?
• What can my organization do about it?
• What kind of contingency plans do I need to keep the business operating?

These are the questions every business must ask --- and be prepared to answer. It is not an option to be caught unprepared for business disruption. In today's world, a failure to plan for the timely resumption of business operations, and therefore, revenue flow, could be the failure of the business. Period. Complete and thorough business continuity plans are a critical part of doing business today, not something that always falls to the end of the list. Business stakeholders are requesting to see these plans and understand accountabilities.

Although the above questions appear simple, the answers and associated planning are a complex task. With this in mind, W. Capra offers Business Continuity Planning Services for C-Stores. The BCPS service combines

1. Certified Business Continuity Planning expertise, with
2. Deep knowledge of C-Store technology and systems, and most importantly,
3. Knowledge of how the technology is linked to critical business processes.

BCPS offers a structured methodology to:

• Identify critical technologies within your business operation and the risks of disruption to those technologies.
• Evaluate the business impact of those possible technology disruptions.
• Identify mitigating control measures.
• Develop strategies and in-depth plans to respond to high-impact disruptions and resume business operations in a planned and timely manner.
• Create detailed outage scenario test plans, exercises, reviews and recommendations.
• Mitigate risk.

BCPS Phases
BCPS combines methodology and experience to produce deliverables and results.

Phase 1: Analysis

• Risk Evaluation
  - Potential vulnerabilities, threats, and exposures to the organization and associated risks
  - Risk reduction/mitigation alternatives
  - Costs to establish effective controls
  - Evaluate existing Disaster Recovery plans that may be outdated
  

• Business Impact Analysis
  - Determine the time criticality of organizational components such as business processes, departments, application systems, data, physical facilities, and networks.
  - Assess impacts (financial, legal, operational) of potential component outage and determine the Recovery Time Objective (RTO) for components.

Phase 2: Planning

• Develop Business Continuity strategies:
  - Identify and evaluate alternative strategies for mitigating technology risks.

• Develop Business Continuity plans:
  - Plan scope and objectives
  - Disaster detection and declaration procedures; initial response actions
  - Notification and escalation procedures
  - Detailed resumption, recovery, and restoration procedures

Phase 3: Testing and Maintenance

• Develop testing program and objectives.
• Develop detailed exercise plans and scenarios, with periodic planned reviews to confirm current state is incorporated.
• Execute testing program.
• Prepare exercise evaluation report and recommendations.

Just a Sample of Risks
The C-Store business is more and more dependent on technology. The following are just a sample of the vulnerabilities, threats, and exposures that could harm your business:

• Store connectivity is lost for an extended period. Can you still validate credit cards and capture sales data?
• Data Center is lost. Supply Chain and ERP systems are unavailable. How do you receive day-end reports and replenish inventory?
• Major telecommunications provider files for bankruptcy. What is your backup plan?
• Weather negatively impacts your satellite communications during the busiest time of the day.
• Major equipment vendor, ASP provider or service firm files for bankruptcy. Are my associates prepared to continue store operations?
• Credit card processor experiences an extended outage.
• An unrecognized virus plagues the Internet and virtually shuts it down for 2 days. Are you prepared?
• Your customer call center is unreachable. How much did we lose in revenue?
• Your Application Support Team is unreachable. Who is going to help you?

The various business functions of C-Store operations require many technology components to be available and working together. For example, price changes at the store may require headquarter systems, store equipment, and store connectivity to be available. If one of those components is not working, it may not be possible to change prices at the store. Payment processing, B2B applications, web-to-enterprise applications all operate with similar dependencies on platforms, service providers, and connectivity. What if one component is not available?

Benefits to Using W. Capra
W. Capra's experience in the C-Store industry is extensive and our C-Store consultants have proven full life-cycle experience. With the following skills, we will provide you with the most value and most efficient Business Continuity Planning process.

Certified Business Continuity Planners
Expertise in C-Store technologies and with the major vendors
Experience with critical operational support processes - when something happens, who does what and how?
Deep knowledge of how the business depends on the technology

By leveraging W. Capra's C-Store experience and utilizing W. Capra's BCPS process you can achieve the following benefits:

• Minimize overall time required to develop business continuity strategies and appropriate plans.
• Save your time. Since we understand your industry and C-Store technologies, we can hit the ground running. Unlike other firms, you and your team will not have to spend time bringing the W. Capra team up to speed on your C-Store business and what role technology plays.
• Document a clear understanding of the vulnerabilities, threats, and/or exposures to the organization and effective controls for measuring.
• Develop practical business-focused strategies and plans.
• Provide assurance that well-thought-out Business Continuity plans are in place.
• Sleep at night!

For more information on W. Capra services, click here to contact us or call 1-312-873-3270.