Until fairly recently, most companies believed that protecting their organisations meant backing-up their computer data and having an emergency telephone system on standby. Nowadays business continuity management (BCM) is recognised as a growing business discipline and covers everything from protecting information and property to ensuring the safety of customers and staff and the reputation and value of the entire enterprise.
Business continuity management is not about disaster recovery, risk control, crisis management or IT systems recovery. It’s not simply a specialist solution that can be delivered on a plate, but a business owned and driven process that unifies a wide array of managerial and business disciplines.
In particular it provides the strategic and operational framework to review the way an organisation provides its products and services whilst increasing its resilience to disruption, interruption or loss.
Business continuity management processes are being adopted across organisations in the public and private sector in order to provide assurance that they have processes in place to maintain continuous, impressive performance 365 days a year, regardless of unusual internal or external circumstances. Such demands can be almost impossible to meet. But through understanding how organisations of different shapes and sizes tackle the difficult issues, it is possible to learn how to build resilience into all organisations and to build business continuity into the organisational culture.
Business continuity management is recognised as good business practice and is an integral part of a well balanced management framework. Seen in this light continuity management takes on a strategic dimension which will not only provide protection to your organisation but could also put you at a commercial advantage.
Business continuity management is not about making excuses. It’s about being wise before the event. It is a state of mind that understands that great organisations never moan they didn’t do well because of the state of the economy, a fire at the warehouse, an internal fraud, or a strike by a key group of workers. Great organisations do well anyway.
The government and other key regulatory bodies such as the Financial Services Authority have expressed increasing concern over the high percentage of companies that do not have a business continuity and/or crisis management capability. They believe a robust, effective and fit-for-purpose preparedness is essential in the face of the challenges and threats that inevitably arise in our globally interconnected commercial environment.
Many organisations do not bother to protect themselves because they don’t think it’s realistic to try, or they fear the time and cost involved in doing so. Many express the view that “there is no point trying to defend ourselves against each and every disaster that might occur”.
The truth is rather different. Business continuity management is a process that allows you to identify potential impacts on your business and provides a framework for building resilience and the capability to respond quickly, safeguarding the interests of key stakeholders.
As with all major undertakings within an organisation, it is essential to gain the backing and sponsorship of senior or executive management.
