Business Continuity Planning & Management

When business continuity was a new concept, it seemed enough to plan for terrorist attacks, natural disasters and other local disruptions. Today, in our global economy, disasters don't have to occur nearby to eventually cause business disruptions. It is especially important, then, to be sure that your plans include the possibility of disruptions anywhere along the supply chain. This week's articles can provide you with food for thought along these lines.

Here are 10 reasons why a well thought out plan will benefit your business and give you peace of mind. (Item #1) There are three important elements that too many business continuity plans are missing -- even plans that are well-developed based on traditional good practice. (Item #2) Is the aim of recovering to a minimum business continuity objective acceptable? (Item #3)

This article describes the basics of BCM and provides a list of resources that you and your organization can use to improve your ability to survive any unexpected and undesirable turn of events. (Item #4) No one can predict when the next disaster or business disruption will strike; the only certainty is that something untoward will happen, at some time. (Item #5) In this op ed thought experiment, David Lindstedt looks back from the year 2027 and highlights some pitfalls that the resilience road could lead to. (Item #6)

As always, we look forward to hearing your comments & insights regarding business continuity. If you have a topic you'd like us to cover, email me at [email protected].

Bob Mellinger, President
Attainium Corp

1. Ten Reasons to Have a Business Continuity Plan

The author takes a look at the importance of having a business continuity plan in place. In this article he gives you 10 reasons why a well thought out plan will benefit your business and give you peace of mind.
https://www.fpb.org/business-support/ten-reasons-have-business-continuity-plan

2. Three Important Elements Your Business Continuity Plan Is Missing

Your business continuity team has brought you the company's new, improved, revised, or updated business continuity (BC) plans. Nice plans -- comprehensive, lots of information about assignments, call trees, contact lists, etc. and they're all up-to-date. Your staff assures you that they have addressed all of the priorities and requirements defined from your business impact analysis (BIA) and involved every key stakeholder, so that the company is ready for the worst case scenario. You can hand out the kudos and get on with the next task. Not so fast.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sungardas/2014/08/13/3-important-elements-your-business-continuity-plan-is-missing/

3. The realities of recovery time objectives

Many of you have recovery time objectives within your business continuity and disaster recovery plans. It's the desired time for which you will be deemed to have been 'recovered'. But following a conversation with peers just recently, I have discovered that the point at which an IT system is seen as 'recovered' is rarely agreed between them.
http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature1186.html

4. Business continuity management: key to securing your digital future

Business continuity is all about surviving the bad things that can impact your business, from a computer virus outbreak to a biological virus outbreak, and all the other perils in-between, like fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Business continuity management, often referred to as BCM, is the process of achieving and sustaining this capability, and it is a vital part of information system security management, commonly known these days as cybersecurity.
http://www.welivesecurity.com/2014/05/01/business-continuity-management-cybersecurity/

5. Guide to Business Continuity Management: Frequently Asked Questions

Many companies never see or fully consider potential threats to their business until the damage has been done. During such times, business can come to a standstill. Even routine activities such as employees coming to an office to work, accessing the corporate network, or meeting in person may not be possible in such circumstances. The impact on businesses can be staggering: personal injury, the destruction of property, lawsuits due to alleged negligence, decreased production, missed service deadlines and delayed product announcements are only a small sampling of the unfortunate occurrences that can plague a company during a crisis.
http://www.protiviti.com/en-US/Documents/Resource-Guides/Guide-to-BCM-Third-Edition-Protiviti.pdf

6. Resilience in hindsight: Lessons from 2027?

We should have been more careful, more disciplined. But the idea of 'resilience' was so alluring. Not like all the other stuff. IT DR was boring in the details, and it was all about the details. BCP could never get the proper sponsorship from executives. Life safety was tolerated, but never engaging in the corporate space. But resilience? Now that showed promise.
http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature1129.html