Business Continuity is a generic management framework which is valid across all sectors and helps organisation anticipate, prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from distruption. To assist in this the Business Continuity Institute has developed a five-stage BCM process recommended within the Civil Contingencies Act guidance, and also incorporated into the British Standards Institute Business Continuity Management BS-25999 - the New Standard in Business Continuity Below is a brief overview of the process to assist organisations on their way:
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Stage 1: Understanding your Business: Is about identifying the critical functions of your organisation and recovery priorities based on risk assessment to determine what could lead to disruption of your normal operations.
Stage 2: BCM Strategies: Is about identifying alternative means available to mitigate loss, and assessing their effectiveness in maintaining your organisation's ability to deliver its critical functions.
Stage 3: Developing and Implementing a BCM Response: Seeks to developing plans to underpin the response to disruptions.
Stage 4: Developing a BCM Culture: Is about ensuring that key personnel and partners in the organisation are aware of Business Continuity issues and developing a culture of resilience and continuity within the organisation.
Stage 5: Exercising, Maintenance and Audit: Finally it is vital that plans are tested to ensure they are fit for purpose, kept up to date and quality assured. The core of BCM is about embedding BCM in the organisation's culture - This enables BCM to become part of the organisation's core values and instils confidence in all stakeholders in the ability of the organisation to cope with disruptions. |