It's not always the "big bang" scenario that causes the problem

Business Continuity Management

 

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Pentire Solutions Ltd: General Information

Business Continuity Management : What Can Be Done?

Well, you could hide your head in the sand and convince yourself that nothing will ever happen...
(Not a good idea)

Or,

You can implement the development of a Business Continuity Management programme, suited to the specific requirements of your business.
(That’s more like it!)

In short, the development of the BCM strategy and associated planning is the implementation of five stages that are often called the “Business Continuity Planning Cycle”

These stages are common to all BCM planning, but the specifics for each can only be effective if they are tailored to the business operation.

  1. Analyse the business
    • e.g.
      • What services / products does the business produce or supply?
      • What functions / elements are really key to its success?
      • What are the potential impacts of partial, or total, failure of these? (may be financial / reputational, or both)
      • What are the outage tolerances (how long can they be out of action)?
      • What are the minimum resources (infrastructure / technical / personnel / etc.) required to carry out the minimum acceptable level of operation
  2. Assess Potential Exposures
    • e.g.
      • The location and neighbouring companies activities
      • Physical (premises)
      • Security (physical / data / information / personal / etc)
      • Processes (documented / compliant)
      • Personnel (e.g. single points of failure)
    • Identify the probability of occurrence and the potential scalke of impact for each
  3. Build the BCM Strategy
    • Implement a programme to remove identified potential exposures, or to minimise them to an acceptable level of risk
    • Identify the elements to be included in the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) : some functions may (sad to say) not be business critical . . . . do they need to be in a BCP?
    • Define the structure and content of the BCP
  4. Develop the Business Continuity Plan
    • Keep it clear and simple for maximum effectiveness
    • Involve departmental personnel in the development
    • Avoid duplication of information
    • Specify roles and responsibilities clearly
    • Maximise the reference to existing procedural documentation, where required
    • Ensure key information is available to the people who may have to use the plan
  5. Exercise the BCP
    • Any plan is only as effective as the people using it
    • Maintain knowledge and training of the content by awareness and exercising
    • A full rehearsal is not always the most effective exercise of a plan
    • Involvement equals “ownership”
    • Minimum recommendation is at least annual exercise of the plan
  6. Review the Plan
    • At least annually
    • Ensure updates are distributed