The Business Continuity Institute’s (BCI) annual BSAW+R provides professionals with vital, practical tools to boost resilience, and this year the campaign spotlights the importance of continually challenging, testing and evolving the resilience of an organisation.

Online and free to attend, the five-day programme of webinars and resources will highlight assumptions that hide the most dangerous gaps in preparedness and provide actionable guidance to close them, covering the following daily topics:

•  Monday 18th May - Modern Threats

• Tuesday 19th May - Crisis Readiness

• Wednesday 20th May - Climate Risk

• Thursday 21st May - External Shocks

• Friday 22nd May - Leadership Culture

Meanwhile, in Lancashire, there is a wealth of continuity and resilience information for businesses to access, and this is the ideal time to take action.

Dharmesh Nayee, Emergency Panning Officer for Lancashire County Council’s Resilience Team, and Chair of the LRF’s Business Continuity Group, has urged organisations to make the most of BCAW+R resources, and consider how they would continue to operate if something unexpected happened.

He explained: “Business continuity is simply about understanding your organisation, the risks it faces, and the steps you can take to manage disruption effectively.

“Thinking about these arrangements before an issue occurs can be the difference between staying resilient, struggling to recover, or going under. Business continuity planning sits alongside your normal business planning – setting clear aims, understanding your essential functions, and recognising what you rely on to operate.

“Risks can be both opportunities and threats. By carrying out a simple risk assessment – identifying what might happen, how likely it is, and what impact it could have – you can strengthen your ability to adapt and respond.

“To support this, the Cabinet Office publishes the National Risk Register, and the Lancashire Resilience Forum provides the Lancashire Community Risk Register. Businesses can use these when assessing the potential consequences for their people, premises, technology, supply chain, and other key resources.

“Our website also includes practical guidance on how to protect your business, a downloadable Business Continuity Plan template and links to trusted resources.”

Dharmesh added: “As part of this year’s BCAW+R, we’ll be sharing daily advice to help organisations strengthen their resilience. This will include guidance on cyber incidents, which have become an increasingly prominent risk.”

Cyber crime is now one of the biggest threats facing UK businesses - and one cyber attack could take out a small business entirely.

According to the latest government Cyber Security Breaches Survey, nearly half of small businesses experienced a cyber incident in the past year, and 85% of businesses experienced a phishing attempt.

Despite these worrying figures, many business owners still assume they are too small to be a target - but cyber criminals often see smaller businesses as easier to target and use them as a stepping stone to attack larger businesses in the supply chain. Plus, cyber breaches and attacks are becoming more sophisticated and believable with AI and new technology.

Paul Benson, Client Relations Manager for the North West Cyber Resilience Centre (NWCRC), said: “The most common cyber threats include phishing, social engineering, ransomware and data theft. The resulting reputational damage and data recovery costs can be devastating and have a long-lasting impact on any business.

“However, with some simple guidance a small business can hugely improve their cyber resilience and defences. The NWCRC’s team of cyber specialist officer cyber experts supports small businesses, charities and public sector organisations to build their cyber defences and make the North West a safer place to do business.

Paul emphasised: “No small business needs to face cyber threats alone. The goal is to build a proactive culture of resilience for the North West business community, giving small firms the confidence to grow securely in a digital-first economy. Cyber resilience isn’t just about preventing attacks, it’s about knowing how to react when your business does get targeted, as well as how to recover from them.''

Businesses can sign up for the NWCRC free to receive fully funded support, guidance and services.