Business Continuity: General information

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business continuity: General information

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A business continuity plan for all seasons
The next incident is always the one you have not thought of! Charlie Maclean-Bristol suggests some ways to ensure that your business continuity plan can cope with unanticipated incidents.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

A case study in supply chain vulnerabilities
Patrick Roberts highlights lessons from Huntingdon Life Sciences.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

A decade in business continuity planning
Nathaniel Forbes started his BC consultancy in January 1996. In this article he highlights the key lessons that he has learned since that time.
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•Type: Article •Region: Asia / Worldwide •Level: Advanced

A journey, not a destination
Treating BCM as a continuous process helps embed business continuity into the organization. By Chris Oliver, FCBI.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Are we fear-mongers? Business continuity and the boy who cried wolf
Nick Johnson discusses the pros and cons of using a ‘fear-based’ approach to getting business continuity buy-in.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/Worldwide • Level: Advanced

A short tour of business continuity management standards
How we got here and where we are going... By Werner Verlinden.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Accounting for staff following an evacuation
A risk assessment of methodologies, by Alan Lloyd.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

Achieving resilience – best practices in business continuity
A white paper that summarises the results of a $250,000 research program into business continuity planning.
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•Type: Article •Region: N.America/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Addressing business continuity during mergers or acquisitions
Companies that are preparing for a corporate merger or acquisition will need to address some formidable and distinctive BC challenges.
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•Type: Article •Region: /Worldwide •Level: Advanced

A hidden crisis behind communication
Michael Faber raises various communications issues which some business continuity plans fail to address.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

A holistic framework for recovery: shifting the perspective of BCM to generate greater success
A detailed white paper by Tim Cousins.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

A new planning paradigm: economic consequences of a pandemic
Geary W. Sikich takes a detailed look at the potential impacts of a pandemic and asks ‘business continuity planners - what are you doing?’
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Are we missing the point of pandemic planning?
Focusing on the impact of a pandemic on staffing and output risks failing to plan for other, even bigger threats, associated with such a crisis. By Geary W. Sikich and John M. Stagl.
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•Type: Article •Region: US / Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Armed against the activist
David Honour explores the business continuity measures that can be put in place to protect companies from activist attacks.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Assessing your legal vulnerabilities
Businesses face legal risks related to disruptions and disasters: how can these be addressed? By Jay N. Rosenblatt, a business lawyer at the law firm Simpson Wigle LLP.
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•Type: Article •Region: Canada / World •Level: Basic

Avoiding the dangers of groupthink during business continuity planning
David Honour highlights specific areas in the business continuity lifecycle which are at particular risk from groupthink.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Banks and avian flu: planning for a possible pandemic
Many of the assumptions underlying much of today’s business continuity planning will not hold in a pandemic. Pat McConnell explains.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Bayesian Belief Networks in business continuity management
Bayesian Belief Networks provide a method for integrating beliefs and hard facts in a logically consistent manner. Patrick Roberts explores the potential for applying them in business continuity management.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Benefits of enterprise modelling for business continuity management
Gary Clarke, MBCI, presents a paper which describes the many ways in which enterprise modelling can support business continuity management.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Between a rock and a hard place
Steve Dance discusses the interplay between BS25999 and other recent UK legislation.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK •Level: Advanced

Bridging the business continuity and IT disaster recovery gap
How to increase coordination between the business and IT in preparedness activities. by Jacque Rupert.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/World •Level: Advanced

BS 25999: key issues to address for certification
Malcolm Cornish details the management system and business impact analysis requirements of BS 25999.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

Business continuity and brand protection
Five steps that organizations can take to bolster business continuity plans to help protect their brands.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/World •Level: Basic

Business continuity and brand protection
Jim Burtles argues that the primary purpose of business continuity is in the protection which it provides for the brand.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

Business continuity and the smaller business
Practical advice for small and medium sized businesses from an SME owner.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business continuity - are we still missing the point?
Are most organisations still too focussed on the reactive aspects of business continuity? Dominic Hill thinks so...
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

Business continuity: certification and experience in the field
Organizations should seek to expose business continuity planners to real disasters says Scott Sanderson.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/World •Level: Advanced

Business continuity management in the United States: where is it heading?
Have changes in the risks faced by both the public and private sectors increased the importance given to BCM? Lynnda Nelson comments.
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•Type: Article •Region: US •Level: Basic

Business continuity initiatives: when to involve senior management
Rama Satyanarayana describes what the ISO 22301 standard and COBIT 5 expect from senior management in BCM programs.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Business continuity lessons from Buncefield
48 hours after a huge explosion at a UK fuel depot, firefighters were still trying to extinguish the fire. Various BC lessons can be gleaned from the incident.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business continuity plans should integrate with security
BSIA warns business continuity managers not to leave physical security out of business continuity plans.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business continuity program management – a critical and often overlooked aspect
Once a BCM program is established there are a number of activities that protect the investment and sustain the program in line with the needs of the organization. Mark Prentice explains.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business continuity management in a recession: luxury or necessity?
How can we continue to show the relevance of BCM? Some thoughts from Andrew Hiles, FBCI.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Business continuity management: reflections from disaster
The Asia Pacific region experienced more than its fair share of natural disasters in the first quarter of 2011; but what impact have these events had on attitudes to BCM in the region, and what lessons have been learned? Ernst & Young, Australia, has provided a paper which explores these questions.
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•Type: Article •Region: Asia Pacific •Level: Advanced

Business continuity management : the nine deadly sins
Mike Thompson highlights areas that he believes bedevil many BC plans.
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•Type: Article •Region: Australia/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business continuity’s role in supply chain resilience
How to effectively manage supply chain risks. By Charlie Maclean-Bristol.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business discontinuity – five common mistakes and how to avoid them
Brian Davey provide some hints and tips on how to avoid five false assumptions organisations can make when implementing their business continuity management programme.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Buyer beware: PS-Prep auditor training and organization certification
Make sure any supplier can provide verification for the credentials that they are claiming, says John A. DiMaria.
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•Type: Article •Region: US •Level: Basic

Before the business continuity plan
What can you do if your organisation doesn’t yet have a BCP, but you want to prepare for emergencies? Nathaniel Forbes offers some advice.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Beyond disaster recovery: becoming a resilient business
An object-oriented framework and methodology, by Richard Cocchiara.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

BCM document quality control
Ray Liepa details what’s required for quality control of business continuity management documents.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Beware the complex plan…
The best business continuity plan is simply structured common sense says Jim Burtles, FBCI.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Beyond IT service management – spreading the reach of support
IT support can play an essential role in business continuity management.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

BCM self-assessment tool
A 20 question checklist aimed at enabling CFOs, financial controllers and auditors to assess the state of business continuity management in their organisations.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

BCM: think culture, not quick fix!
Business continuity is NOT JUST a project...it’s an ongoing state of mind.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Boring, boring business continuity…
Pareto’s Principle and business continuity management. A comment by David Honour.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Building a continuity culture: the importance of measuring attitudes to risk
How to do you know which employees have an appropriate understanding of business risks? John Robinson explains.
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•Date: 23rd April 2004 •Region: World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general

Business continuity – a changing agenda?
Dennis Thomas comments.
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•Type: Article •Region:UK •Level: Basic

Business continuity and disaster recovery outsourcing issues
Lawrence Robert looks at the implications of outsourcing in general for BC managers and asks ‘Can business continuity be outsourced?’
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•Type: Article •Region: US / World •Level: Basic

Business continuity & risk management: making sure that today’s business continues tomorrow
Download a PDF copy of a supplement about business continuity which was distributed with the Times newspaper recently.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Basic

Business continuity and medium size enterprises
Once upon a time, high tech disaster recovery and business continuity solutions were the preserve of multinationals with buckets of cash. No longer, says Richard Boud…
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business continuity during an avian 'flu pandemic
Leslie Whittet provides a very helpful overview of the measures that organisations should consider when including pandemic scenarios in business continuity plans.
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•Type: Article •Region: Australia/World •Level: Advanced

Business continuity for beginners
An overview of the business continuity management process for those new to the subject.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business continuity for small businesses
Dr. Robert F. Hester offers some thoughts and inspiration for small businesses attempting to develop business continuity plans.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business continuity: helping firms stand out from the crowd
Using the example of the legal industry, Peter Joyce explains how business continuity can help differentiate companies in crowded sectors.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Basic

Business continuity lessons from Buncefield
A review of the business continuity themes contained within the Major Incident Investigation Board’s report.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK •Level: Advanced

Business continuity lessons from Buncefield: SDPL
A new report into the Buncefield disaster and the lessons that can be learned from it has been published by business continuity consultancy, the SDPL Partnership.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK •Level: Basic

Business continuity on a limited budget
David Honour asks whether the priority should be given to crisis management or plan development when funds are limited.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business continuity on a limited budget: part two
Andrew McCrackan continues our article series by highlighting the ethical dilemma faced by planners when budgets are not enough to mitigate all critical risks.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business continuity planning for pandemic scenarios
In a highly practical article, Leslie Whittet highlights the steps that can be taken to provide real business resilience during a pandemic.
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•Type: Article •Region: Australia/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Business continuity planning for REAL people
By Sean Doherty, BCM advisor, RBC Royal Bank IT department.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business continuity planning - how long should it take?
About three months and never more than six, says Mel Gosling.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Business continuity management lessons from English public disorder incidents
BCM professionals must begin to look at what happened and assess how well plans and processes stood up to the events, says Gary Hibberd.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK •Level: Advanced

Business continuity quotations
We received over 300 entries for our recent business continuity quotations competition. Find out who won and read the full list of entries.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

Business insurance – what you may not have thought about…
Insurance has great relevance in a business continuity context but is an area which is often greatly misunderstood. Ron Miller highlights aspects which all BC managers should be aware of, but often aren’t.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

Business resilience – the next step forwards for business continuity
Robin Gaddum explains why IBM believes that business continuity is evolving into business resilience.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

Checklist: protecting employees on new overseas assignments
MEDEX provides a list of international health and safety questions for the risk manager to consider.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Choosing a business continuity consultant: and avoiding being sold snake oil
The purpose of this article is to give potential purchasers some ideas on what to look for in choosing a business continuity consultant.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Colour co-ordinated…
Dennis Thomas, director of business continuity at Synstar, looks at the role of people management in an invocation and presents the case for adding colour to business continuity strategy.
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•Type: Article •Region: Various •Level: Basic

Comment: Culture change is key to business continuity management
As BCM develops it is coming up against a major obstruction in many organisations; that of corporate culture. By David Honour.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Communicable diseases: business continuity issues
Continued concern over Avian flu and the threat of a global influenza pandemic make planning for such eventualities a high priority. Jeremy Haworth, MBCI, outlines the lessons he learned during the 2003 SARS crisis.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Complacency – the biggest business continuity threat to SMEs
Many smaller companies mistakenly view business continuity management as only relevant to large enterprises. Brooks Wallace attacks such thinking.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK •Level: Basic

Continuity in recession
These are turbulent times for businesses, tumbling from the realisation of sub-prime into the credit crunch and now a sustained period of global recession. But what does it mean for business continuity? Is it now a dispensable overhead - a hygiene factor, a luxury that organizations can afford to forego, or are we missing something?
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•Type: Article •Region: UK •Level: Advanced

Corporate crime – the need for prevention and cure
The BC impacts of internal crime can range from short term effects due to the theft of important equipment to huge reputational and financial crises. Kerry Furber explores the subject.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Corporate defence: risk management, business resilience and beyond
Sean Lyons discusses the changing nature of corporate defence/defense in the 21st century and the resulting opportunities for those involved in business continuity initiatives.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Creating shareholder value through business continuity management
Patrick Roberts believes that using scare tactics to promote BC is counter-productive and that focusing on 'risk and return' is a better approach.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Critical infrastructure protection is all about operational resilience and continuity
Dr. Jim Kennedy calls for a greater focus on service continuity controls in critical infrastructure protection programs.
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•Type: Article •Region: US •Level: Basic

Cultural conditioning – the training dilemma
James Royds highlights the benefits that exercising brings to the whole business continuity lifecycle.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Designing a business continuity training program to maximize value and minimize cost
Susan Yardis provides some thoughts on the above subject and a useful list of ideas.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Disaster planning guidelines for gulf coast businesses
A useful checklist style guide has been made available by Capital One Financial Corporation.
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•Type: Article •Region: US •Level: Basic

Does the business continuity model start in the wrong place?
Do the standard BC models leave organisations that are developing their first plans vulnerable for too long?
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Don’t reinvent the wheel: leveraging 'non-business continuity' tools and methodologies
How can the business continuity professional leverage tools and methodologies in use by other disciplines to improve performance throughout the organization? By Glen Bricker.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Don't overlook records management when developing business continuity plans
Paper records are frequently neglected in business continuity plans…
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Do outsourcers protect the continuity of YOUR business?
Some thoughts on outsourcing risk management, by Colin Roe, MBCI.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Dynamic identity in a disaster situation
In an article aimed at exploring the human dynamic of business continuity, Mike Jacobs looks at how individual identity can be affected by disaster and how that can impact on response teams.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Enhancing organizations’ adaptive capacity and resilience through effective decision-making in the recovery phase
This paper draws on three frameworks for applying ‘whole-brained’ thinking as an organizing principle for decision-making in post-disaster (recovery) situations.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Advanced

Embedding business continuity management
Ian Charters, FBCI, explores what an embedding programme could look like in the brave new world of ISO 22301.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Embedding business continuity management in the organization’s culture
This paper seeks to explore the requirements of BS 25999, and discusses various ways to ‘embed BCM within your organization’s culture’.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Emerging business continuity threats: acid mine drainage
ContinuitySA’s Lynn Jackson provides an update about the issue of acid mine drainage (AMD) and its business continuity implications.
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•Type: Article •Region: Africa / World •Level: Basic

Emerging threats: climate change
A year ago, Continuity Central published an article which asked 'Is climate change a business continuity issue?' 12 months on, we revisit the issue and explore how our knowledge of climate change as a business continuity threat has moved on.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

Emerging threats 2006: drought
Part one of a regular series of articles to be published over the next few weeks exploring threats which are likely to be an increasing issue during 2006.
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•Type: Article •Region: Various •Level: Basic

Ensuring successful project completion
Project failure can put business survival in jeopardy. David Honour explores how project risk management can help prevent the threat arising.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Evidence-based business continuity management
Can the BCM profession learn from ‘evidence-based medicine’? By Patrick Roberts.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

Executive buy-in? It doesn't end there
Middle management also needs to be sold business continuity if corporate inertia is to be overcome. By Nick Johnson.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Exploring the link between organisational resilience and crisis management
By Alex Serrano, MBCI, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
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•Type: Article •Region: Australia/World •Level: Basic

Factors to be considered when selecting a business continuity planner and partner
Provides practical advice and checklists.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

Federal Preparedness Circular updates continuity of operations guidance
Continuity of Operations Federal Preparedness Circular 65 supersedes earlier guidance.
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•Type: Article •Region: N.America •Level: Advanced

Five golden rules of business continuity management
Neil O’Connor highlights key lessons learned from implementing BS 25999.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Five simple rules for business continuity
Gregory N. Mirsky, a BC coordinator for a large personal beauty products manufacturer in North America, shares a training primer that he has developed.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

Flexible working and business continuity
Bharat Thakrar, head of business continuity, BT Global Services provides some advice for those new to the subject.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Flexible working: time to take the next step?
Flexible working will be essential if organisations are to continue to operate effectively during a pandemic. So why not leverage the business continuity investment to drive down overheads, improve the working environment and adopt flexible working as standard business practice?
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Food for thought...
Deloitte Australia comments on the new AS/NZS 5050 business continuity management standard.
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•Type: Article •Region: Australia/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Get out of jail free?
Force majeure clauses inserted in the small print of contracts can be a very real threat to the survival of businesses impacted by disasters. David Honour explores the issue.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Global political risk and business – beyond terrorism?
Political factors are increasingly having an influence on business continuity.
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Type: Article •Region: Worldwide • Level: Advanced

Grenada situation provides wide-area disaster recovery lessons
Earlier this week the United Nations highlighted the continued disaster recovery struggle taking place in Grenada following last year’s Hurricane Ivan. David Honour highlights the lessons that the business continuity profession can learn from the situation in the Caribbean island.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

Home working: a strategy for business continuity
Don’t assume homeworking can be easily ‘turned on’ during a crisis: it must be tested and exercised like any other BC strategy. Graham Chick explores the issue.
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Date: 21st Dec 2006• Region: UK/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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How to choose a business continuity consultant
On 8th September 2006 we launched our business continuity Wiki, to enable the development of collaborative documents. The first article is now complete and provides advice on how to decide whether an external business continuity consultant would be a useful resource to aid your company’s BCM program and, if so, how to go about choosing one.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

How to find and motivate employees for business continuity
Given the harsh reality that the BCM function is under-staffed in most organisations how can BC managers encourage others to volunteer to get involved?
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

HR as a business continuity resource
Human Resources is often overlooked as a business continuity resource.
It shouldn’t be…
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•Type: Article •Region: US/World •Level: Advanced

Human factors in business continuity
The first of a series of articles by Siobhán McGee and Emerald-jane Turner which explore human resource aspects of business continuity management.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

Human factors in business continuity, part two
This is the second of a series of articles by Siobhán McGee and Emerald-jane Turner which explore human resource aspects of business continuity management. Here the authors discuss the second phase of their HR business continuity model: the proactive phase.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

Human factors in business continuity, part three
This article focuses on the immediate or responsive phase of the human resilience strategy, in other words, the capacity that organisations have to activate and utilise their human factor resources in the wake of a traumatic incident.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

Human factors in organizational resilience – implications of breaking the psychological contract
This paper explores the impacts that the psychological contract has on employees’ attitudes prior to and during an organizational crisis and upon their willingness to ‘go the extra mile’ to assist organizational recovery.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Human resilience strategies: the recovery phase
Part four in a series of articles exploring human resource aspects of business continuity management.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

If the cap fits…?
Dennis Thomas offers his insight into the challenges facing BC managers when forming business continuity support teams.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Implementing a business continuity culture
IT is the logical home of business continuity states John Robinson, but how can IT departments foster a culture in their organisations where every executive and department takes business continuity to heart?
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Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Implementing business continuity management in a distributed organisation: a case study
This article analyses the findings of a BCM audit of the Medical Research Council’s 26 UK sites.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

In the spotlight: the human side of business continuity planning
IBM Global Technology Services has provided a paper exploring the above issue and giving a useful checklist of questions to ask when planning.
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Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Integrating business continuity criteria into your supply chain
Geary Sikich takes a detailed look at strategies for supply chain business continuity management.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Advanced

Introduction to business security patterns
This IBM white paper explores in detail business security patterns and ways to maximise the value of security and protection investments.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Is business continuity management a misnomer?
This paper discusses why business continuity management, as a discipline and as perceived by many today, is at the crossroads of direction and focus. By Luc P. Klein.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Is business continuity a subset of risk management?
Andrew McCrackan explores the relative positioning of BC and risk management within organisations and explains why this is an important debate.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Is business continuity certification right for your organization?
This white paper analyzes the business case for pursuing business continuity certification, including what it takes to complete the certification process and how best to prepare.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Is climate change a business continuity issue?
Whatever the cause, most scientists agree that climate change is taking place. David Honour asks what the implications are for business continuity managers.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

Is not having a business continuity plan ever an acceptable risk?
Many enterprises, particularly SMEs (SMBs) do not have a business continuity plan. This paper attempts to quantify the risk that these enterprises are taking, and asks if is this an acceptable risk to take.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Basic

Is your organization’s planning brittle?
Geary Sikich provides five questions that you can work through to assess whether your organization’s planning is resulting in brittleness.
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•Type: Article • US/World •Level: Advanced

It could happen tomorrow…
Not got past the stage of thinking about developing a business continuity plan? Robert Hester offers some advice for SMBs…
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•Type: Article •Region: US/World •Level: Basic

It’s the people, stupid…
Much more research needs to be conducted into the people side of business continuity planning, but David Honour makes some suggestions for ways to improve in this area.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

It's time to stop the excuses
Len Biegel looks and some of the excuses companies give for not developing business continuity plans and answers these objections.
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•Type: Article •Region: N.America •Level: Basic

Juggling information security, business continuity and overall preparedness
Should business continuity and information security be a single role? Christopher Burton discusses.
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•Type: Article •Region: N.America/World •Level: Basic

Lessons from Blackout 2003
Geary Sikich puts the recent North American blackouts into context and explores the business continuity lessons that need to be learned.
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Type: Article •Region: N.America

Lessons from the credit crunch
Patrick Roberts highlights some fundamental lessons arising from the credit crunch crisis concerning how we understand and manage risk.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Basic

Lessons learned from going through the BS 25999 certification process
In 2010 Biscon Planning Ltd helped Altius Associates to achieve certification to BS 25999-2:2007, the British Standard for Business Continuity Management. Mick Bayne from Biscon highlights some of the potential pitfalls in the project and some of the lessons learned.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Basic

Like eating an elephant
This article offers an introduction to business continuity, taking you close but not so close that you lose sight of your objective or get trampled underfoot. It provides a view of conceptual aspects, touching upon motivation and methodology as well as more practical elements such as analysis and planning.
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•Type: Link •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Little things do count
Business continuity must look at both the global big picture and the fine grains of a local process says John Glenn.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Making the case for business continuity
By seizing the initiative and getting involved in all the phases of the business, BC professionals can facilitate the development of processes that can create value for the organisation as well as mitigate risks.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Advanced

Making more noise about BC
Dennis Thomas, director of business continuity at Synstar, believes the time is right for the BC community to capitalise on its good work.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Maslow and business continuity
An understanding of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs is useful for any business continuity strategy.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Maturation of business continuity practice in the Intel supply chain
A paper from the Intel Technology Journal which provides an interesting case study.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Maximum tolerable period of disruption (MTPOD) and external vendors
A two-team approach.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/Worldwide •Level: Basic

Maximum tolerable period of disruption: a new definition
Mel Gosling argues that the current definition of the term maximum tolerable period of disruption (MTPD) not only causes confusion, but is actually wrong, and needs to be replaced by a definition that will ensure that the concept is both readily understood and used as originally intended.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Meeting the challenge of uncertain times
Many organisations have still to translate their business continuity plans from hard-copy format into a technology-driven total business continuity process, says Monica Visconti.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Murphy’s Three Laws of Business Continuity
Robin Gaddum explains...
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Near misses and direct hits
Don't ignore the small day-to-day incidents which take place in your organization: they may be the early warning signs of something much bigger. By Jim Preen.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

No more excuses…
It’s time to punish directors who fail to take business continuity seriously, says Graeme Howe.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK •Level: Basic

Observations of an industry newbie
In his first year as a BC professional David Farr noticed various things that he believes everyone in the business continuity field should keep in mind.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Off-shoring – a risky business?
John Monks highlights areas for the business continuity professional to consider when deciding to move mission-critical functions overseas.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

One year on from Hurricane Ivan: what lessons have been learnt?
Torrin Stafford, a Cayman Islands based Deloitte consultant, gives his retrospective on the events of September 2004 and the subsequent challenges for business continuity.
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•Type: Article •Region: Caribbean•Level: Basic

Organizational resilience
What is resilience and what benefits does it offer? Is it an attempt to re-brand business continuity – to give it a new coat of paint? Or, is it an enabler for business continuity practitioners to provide an enhanced level of service to their stakeholders? Robert Oldfield discusses these questions.
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•Type: Article •Region: Australia/World •Level: Advanced

Outsourcing guidance for financial services
Spells out the potential risks that outsourcing activities can pose to financial sector firms.
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•Type: Article •Region: N.America •Level: Advanced

Pandemic business continuity planning – things to consider
A very practical guide to pandemic planning for business continuity professionals, by Dr. Jim Kennedy.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

People as single points of failure
All too often we allow people to become single points of failure in our organizations. How should business continuity managers identify and manage such people? By Alan Walker, MBCI.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Basic

Personnel insurances related to business continuity planning
John Sloan continues his series of articles looking at insurance policies which can support business continuity.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

Planning for people
Peter Barnes, FBCI, argues that too few business continuity plans consider the ‘human variables’ and offers some guidance as to the issues to be addressed.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Practitioners’ ethics
John Glenn, MBCI, gives his reactions to a recent webinar.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Proactive strategies to position and protect your organisation
What does it really mean to be resilient? By Spencer Anderson, IBM
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Property insurance as it relates to business continuity planning
The first article in a series, by John Sloan.
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•Type: Article •Region: NZ/World •Level: Basic

Protecting the bottom line
Dr Bob Hester explains why small businesses need business continuity plans.
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•Type: Article •Region: US •Level: Basic

Quality metrics: business continuity program performance versus recoverability
Business continuity professionals should be reporting on much more than the planning activities that they perform or manage – they must also compare the end results of the planning processes (strategies and solutions) to management’s approved recovery objectives.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Regulation is the name of the game
Phil Carter discusses the implications of UK industry regulations on business continuity professionals.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK •Level: Basic

Risk and continuity: convergence is in the air...
Peter Power explains why he believes that enterprise risk management can bring the risk management and BCM professions closer together.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Advanced

Risk management and business continuity management: understanding the difference
Ian Charters responds to Continuity Central’s recent article ‘Risk and continuity: convergence is in the air...’
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Advanced

ROI calculations a rarity in business continuity planning
The results of Continuity Central’s survey into whether a return on investment calculation is made as a part of the BC process.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Safe, secure, setting new standards
A report by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation on its business continuity processes.
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•Type: LInk •Region: North America •Level: Basic

Scenario planning vs resource planning: old school vs new school?
Scenario planning does NOT have a role to play in business continuity plan development emphasises Saul Midler.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Securing the mail stream
Almost five years on, the anthrax attacks of 2001 remain a concern. What protective measures should businesses and governments be taking?
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Seeing the big picture…
Risk management involves thinking about the things that need to go right as well as what can go wrong, says Bill Sharon.
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•Type: Article •Region: US / Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Selecting a business continuity planner
Consultant or staff; generalist or specialist. The choice is yours. John Glenn provides some help.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

Separating fear from risk…
Is there a temptation to make business continuity decisions based on the fear of a threat, rather than the real risk involved? David Honour comments.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Basic

Service level agreements and business continuity
Andrew Hiles overviews the subject.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Advanced

Should whistle-blowing be an essential aspect of a good business continuity management system?
Why encouraging employees to report risky processes and behaviours supports business continuity. By David Honour.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Advanced

SIA publishes Critical Infrastructure Guide
Securities Industry Association document which provides a series of questionnaire-based checklists to help identify critical infrastructure vulnerabilities.
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•Type: Article •Region: N.America •Level: Advanced

Singapore’s Standard for Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery Service Providers explored
Dr Goh Moh Heng and Lim Yew Ban have written a paper which examines the implications of Singapore’s new BC suppliers certification standard.
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•Type: Article •Region: SE Asia •Level: Advanced

Six Sigma and business continuity
Jack Freson, Certified Black Belt in Six Sigma, explains how the methodology can be helpful in business continuity management.
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•Type: Article •Region: US •Level: Basic

Social media and business continuity
The one thing you can’t do about social media is ignore it. By Mike Jacobs.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Special events business continuity management
David Honour explores this specialist area.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Some considerations for choosing a consultant
Need consultancy help for your business continuity or crisis management program? Joseph Desplaines provides some advice…
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Some thoughts on resilience
Leslie Whittet sets out to define what resilience is; and explains why it should never be enshrined in a standard.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Supply chain contingencies in uncertain times
PBB Global Logistics offers insight, advice on cross-border trade in the event of war.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide • Level: Advanced

Supply chain continuity insights
Robin Gaddum shares his experiences of supply chain business continuity management.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide • Level: Advanced

Supply chain resilience
Supply chain continuity management has been much discussed over the past year but many organizations struggle to get beyond the basics. In this article John Robinson provides advice on how to take control of this area
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide • Level: Advanced

The application of statistical tools to business continuity management
Patrick Roberts looks at two powerful statistical techniques that have gained widespread acceptance in other areas of risk management and examines whether they can usefully be applied to BCM.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

The ‘art’ of business continuity – BC recruiting
Hiring business continuity managers can be a tricky business. As with any recruiting exercise, there is much at stake and many factors to consider...
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

The brand – estimating its vulnerability
Most BC managers are aware of the importance of protecting brands, but how do you determine how at-risk your brands are?
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

The business benefits of business continuity
Business continuity is an offensive as well as defensive business strategy – so why is so much focus given to the latter? David Honour comments.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

The business continuity resistant organization
Geary W. Sikich highlights various characteristics of a ‘business continuity resistant organization’ and explains why resistance exists or develops.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

The capability diagram: a new way of explaining business continuity
This paper by Charlie Maclean-Bristol, MBCI, details the ‘capability diagram’, which the author believes provides a clear and concise way of describing the role of business continuity management.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

The challenges in a changing world: adopting an integrated approach to risk mitigation
In this paper Robert Hall looks at attitudes to risk within businesses and explains why the balance may be too far on the side of risk avoidance. Business continuity managers may have played a role in creating this imbalance.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

The elusive ‘risk culture’
What would a truly effective risk culture look like? Bill Sharon, CEO and Founder, SORMS, explores the subject.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/World •Level: Advanced

The five stages of pandemic response planning
Charlie Straker provides a practical checklist to help business continuity managers develop pandemic response plans.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

The future role of BCM in contemporary corporate defence
This paper aims to initially look at the changing perception of corporate defence, followed by a review of the developments which have occurred in BCM and other defence related activities. Finally the paper addresses the potential future role of BCM in the corporate defence space.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

The highs and lows of continuity software
Malcolm Cornish, FBCI, asks some tough questions about the use and development of business continuity software.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Basic

The human resource and business continuity management
In this article, Mike Jacobs considers whether we are in danger of forgetting the most important aspect of recovery – the people.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

The human side of business continuity planning
A white paper and checklist by IBM Global Services.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

The loneliness of the business continuity manager
Many business continuity professionals feel isolated in their roles, but what can be done to change this? By Amanda Chapman, MBCI.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

The nature of crises: exploring some persistent myths
These myths can be seen simply as convenient excuses to avoid spending time and money on business continuity; however they actually demonstrate some important psychological phenomena with broader significance for resilience...
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

The perils of scenario-based planning
Linda Pahkim points out the weaknesses of relying too heavily on scenarios when developing a BCP.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Basic

The personal side of business continuity: Addressing human capital management issues during crises
A white paper by Eric Lesser, Russell Lindburg and Tim Ringo, IBM Institute for Business Value.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

The rising tide: climate change and business continuity
This paper considers and discusses in detail the issues relating to climate change from a business continuity perspective, including potential implications and impacts, and recommended planning considerations
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

The ‘tick-a-box’ approach to business continuity
Is much BCM activity focussed on simply satisfying audit requirements rather than on a real commitment to addressing threats?
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

The quiet revolution – a new job spec for the business continuity professional
BC is no longer a reactive job, but a proactive one says Keith Tilley.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

The tragedy of business continuity
This article looks at five ‘tragedies of business continuity’: ways that organizations fail to get the most from business continuity programmes; and suggests changes that could be made which would allow the full benefits of business continuity to be unlocked. By Alan Walker, MBCI.
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•Type: Article •Region: World •Level: Advanced

The UK Civil Contingencies Bill and its effect upon business continuity and emergency management
Robin Gaddum explores the Bill’s implications for the BC sector.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK •Level: Basic

The unexpected benefits of good business continuity
Few realise that the benefits of a BC management programme extend far beyond the ability to recover from unpleasant events.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

The volcanic dust cloud: some business continuity lessons
Some general observations and a look at the specific response of one airline, Qantas. By Keith Sherringham.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Tips for business continuity beginners
Doug Kavanagh offers some advice to those new to the subject of business continuity.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Training - the key to business continuity success?
Investment in people pays off during disaster situations. Keith Pursall explores the key aspects of BC training.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Tune-up your business continuity plan
Sean Doherty lists ten things you can do to improve your business continuity plan performance.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Understanding personalities is key to effective business continuity planning
When making BCPs it is vital to understand the culture of the organization and the personalities of ‘the players’, says John Glenn.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/ World •Level: Basic

Unravelling business continuity terminology
Confusion over terminology can lead to miscommunication of business continuity principles, potentially undermining even the most carefully constructed BC programme. Andrew McCrackan reports.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Basic

Updating the plan update
Tim Janes provides some thoughts on how to improve this process.
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•Type: Article •Region: Australia/World •Level: Basic

Using wikis for business continuity training
One of the biggest challenges for a business continuity manager is to train a large group of people to an appropriate level, with limited resources. Michelle Lang explains how wikis can help.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Basic

US Treasury reports on business continuity best practices in the financial sector
New study provides a model for increasing the resiliency of the sector.
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•Type: Article •Region: N.America •Level: Advanced

Viewpoint: you can take the horse to water but can you make it drink?
Business continuity and the risk focussed company culture. By David Birch, operations director, BT CommSure.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Vital records and business continuity planning
An ‘all media’ approach to data protection is a necessary requirement of all business continuity plans. Dr. Jim Kennedy explains.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

Watch your back…
Corporate kidnapping is a very real threat that companies face. David Honour explores the subject.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

What about the program?
Many organisations have become trapped in a loop comprising just two steps – developing BCPs and exercising BCPs. Far more is required, says Leslie Whittet.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

What business continuity is really all about…
Of all the disasters and crises that occurred in 2005, Buncefield was the one that really highlighted the role of business continuity management. By Lyndon Bird, FBCI, Technical Services Director, the Business Continuity Institute.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK •Level: Advanced

What's your message?
Struggling to raise awareness of your business continuity program within your organization? Lawrence Robert offers some help.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Advanced

When is a black swan not a black swan?
Geary W. Sikich looks at the challenges of outlier events for contingency planners.
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•Type: Article •Region: US/Worldwide •Level: Advanced

When to surrender?
At what point does an incident move beyond the capabilities of business continuity strategies? And how does an organization know when this point has been reached? Ian Charters addresses these questions.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/World •Level: Advanced

Where do I start in business continuity?
Taking the first few steps towards a business continuity management approach can seem a very daunting task. Ian Dunlop provides some useful advice.
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•Type: Article •Region: UK/Worldwide •Level: Basic

When the customer might not always be right…
Ray Liepa raises some potential project management issues for business continuity professionals to consider.
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•Type: Article •Region: S.Africa / Worldwide •Level: Advanced

When trauma strikes your workplace
Whether the result of a disaster or a day-to-day incident, many businesses will at some point face the need to manage a workplace trauma situation. In this article Trula Michaels LaCalle provides some advice on best practice.
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•Type: Article •Region: Worldwide •Level: Basic

Which came first? Business continuity or disaster recovery?
By Belinda Wilson, CBCP, executive director, Business Continuity Services, Americas, HP Services.
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•Type: Article •Region: N.America / Worldwide •Level: Advanced

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