Business Continuity Management
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Business Continuity Management : Why ?
What’s The Point?
What would happen if your business, or the part of it that you are responsible for, were to suffer a major disruption or “disaster” ?
What is a disaster ?
The broad definition is : Any incident that causes a severe disruption to the Company’s ability to function / provide customer service.
We think in wider terms, therefore our definition is : A severely disruptive incident that is out of control at the least convenient moment
And this differs from company to company, location to location and even, sometimes, from department to department.
Many think only in terms of the “big bang”, such as fire, expolsion or flood – the “catastrophic” events.
But, all too often, it’s the lesser incidents that cause major disruption to business processes. These can include :
- Physical damage to premises / facilities resulting from collision / weather / accident / malicious intent (e.g. vandalism)
- Theft of critical equipment / product / information
- Fraudulent activity
- Negligence due to lack of training / de-motivation
- Denial of access due to industrial action / events in the surrounding area (i.e. not your problem)
- Maintenance issues (e.g. equipment / IT hardware / software failure)
- Contractors errors
- Third Party events (e.g. public demonstrations – may result in denial of access)
- Unpreparedness for legislative / regulatory changes
- Market / economic forces
- Personnel issues (e.g. lottery syndicates)
- Pandemic impact (personnel, infrastructure)
- Supply chain problems
- Utility supply problems
Every business is at risk from the “threats” indicated above, but it’s not the actual threat that creates the problem, it’s the impact it would have upon the business or business activity and the service it provides to its customers, whether these be external or internal.
Many think only in terms of loss of revenue in the event of an incident which causes their business operation to stop or close. Have you considered the other potential impacts such as fines that might be imposed for non-compliance to legal, fiscal or regulatory standards and procedures? Have you considered the potential on-going impact upon your business due to the loss of its reputation and good will that might be incurred?
Will your clients / customers come back to you when (if) you manage to recover from the disruption?
How will your competitors, who, in many cases, are now only a “click of a mouse button” away, respond to your inability to deliver product / provide customer service? If you operate a in a business sector in which your clients are “tied” to your services (e.g. health / local government), how will your services be continued?
Has your organisation / business identified what is critical to its purpose, and how long elements of the operation can be out of action before the situation becomes a threat to its very existence? Not many people have.
As there is a high reliance upon IT facilities across all sectors, we can ask one question as an example: What is the tolerance for an IT outage? One hour or one week? Are there alternative means of carrying out at least the minimum level of service until a satisfactory level of operation can be restored?
Consideration of all these factors results in the conclusion that you will need to establish a Business Continuity Management (BCM) programme, with appropriate planning.