If Your Business Can Go Down for Hours, You’re Already Losing

 

If Your Business Can Go Down for Hours, You’re Already Losing

Imagine this: a major telecom provider or bank in Liberia suddenly goes down for hours. No calls. No mobile money. No ATM. No internet. Customers stranded. Transactions missed. Businesses crumble. This isn't fiction—it's been happening over and over again.

So the big question is:
What are we doing about it?





Meet the Author

Written by Kaisamusa Kamara, a certified CyberSecurity specialist with:

  • BSc in CyberSecurity from the USA

  • Google CyberSecurity Certification

  • CompTIA Security+

  • Cisco Certified SOC Analyst

I help businesses and institutions secure their digital operations, build resilience, and bounce back stronger—because in a digital world, downtime equals disaster.




Why I’m Writing About Business Continuity Planning (BCP)

Too many Liberian institutions—like Lonestar, Cellcom, banks, and public offices—have made headlines for the wrong reason: system downtime.

Whether it’s for 2 hours or 2 days, this has dangerous effects:

  • Customers feel uncomfortable and lose trust

  • Thousands of transactions go undone

  • Vital calls and records are lost

  • Revenue is wiped off the table

  • Most importantly, availability—one of the core cybersecurity principles—is broken

And in the business world, when availability breaks, trust follows.

What Is Business Continuity Planning (BCP)?

Business Continuity Planning is a proactive strategy to ensure your company can continue operating during or immediately after a crisis—whether it's a power outage, cyberattack, flood, fire, or data breach.

Without BCP, a single emergency can shut you down. With BCP, you're ready to survive it and recover fast.

The Four Phases of Business Continuity Planning

(Based on the CISSP Official Study Guide by Mike Chapple, James Stewart, and Darryl Gibson)

  1. Scope and Planning Initiation
    Identify critical systems, operations, and roles.
    Example: Cellcom identifies its customer care and mobile money platform as essential.

  2. Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
    Measure the financial and operational impact of downtime.
    Example: A bank realizes that just 1 hour of ATM downtime could cost them LRD 2 million in missed withdrawals.

  3. Continuity Planning
    Develop failover strategies and backup systems.
    Example: Lonestar sets up a secondary server site in Buchanan to kick in if the Monrovia data center goes offline.

  4. Approval and Implementation
    Leadership signs off, and staff are trained through drills.
    Example: The Central Bank conducts quarterly “disaster simulations” to test system resilience.

5 Liberian Institutions That Urgently Need BCP

  1. Lonestar Cell MTN

    • With millions depending on its services, any outage paralyzes communication, business, and financial services across the country.

  2. Cellcom/Orange Liberia

    • As a major telecom player, downtime affects productivity, education, and banking—costing not just money, but customer loyalty.

  3. Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA)

    • The regulator of all telecom services must lead by example. If their systems go down, oversight and regulation collapse.

  4. National Security Agency (NSA)

    • Cyber threats, data loss, and espionage risks make business continuity non-negotiable. A compromised NSA system is a national security crisis.

  5. Central Bank of Liberia (CBL)

    • As the heart of the financial sector, any major failure can ripple through commercial banks, digital payment systems, and inflation control.

Your Biggest Risk Isn't Attack—It's Unpreparedness

Power outages. Flooded buildings. Cyberattacks. These aren’t rare—they’re expected. If you don’t have a plan, your business is living on borrowed time.

You must ask yourself:

  • If our main site burns down, how do we continue operations?

  • If our server gets hacked, how quickly can we recover?

  • If customers can’t reach us for 3 hours, what will they do next?

Let’s Build Your Business Continuity Plan—Together

As a CyberSecurity professional with international training and hands-on experience, I’m here to help businesses in Liberia stay ready, stay resilient, and stay running.

If you’re a company, bank, NGO, or government institution in need of a Business Continuity Plan, let’s talk. I’ll help you:

  • Assess your risk

  • Draft a customized plan

  • Train your team

  • Prepare your systems for the unexpected

Don't wait for a disaster to realize you needed a plan. Let's build yours now. 0770753361


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