Fewer and fewer retail executives are ignoring the development, implementation and maintenance of event risk and business continuity programs. Viewed as a competitive differentiator and a process to protect against market share loss, retail business continuity programs are evolving to address a wide variety of events that have availability and reputational risk elements (i.e. product recalls, product tampering, employment practice accusations or workplace violence at a specific retail location).

Most retail business continuity programs address the following critical business elements:

• "Typical" corporate support processes (i.e. human resources, payroll, accounting, investor relations, etc.)
• Product management / buyer processes
• Warehouse/Distribution Center operations
• Call centers
• Credit management (in-house credit support)
• E-business support
• Marketing

As with other industries, technology is very important, and key customer-facing or customer-support technologies that must be addressed include:

• Point of sale
• Payment authorization
• Inventory management
• Batch processing/scheduling
• Wide Area Network

Each organization is unique and requires its own set of customized solutions. Contact us today to take advantage of a complimentary, 30-minute discussion with one of our experts to further explore business continuity strategies and challenges specific to your organization.