|
 Although
the need to implement business continuity management processes is
understood by the majority of organisations, there is much variation
in what is actually included under the auspices of 'business continuity'.
Continuity Central recently conducted a survey amongst the readers
of the website to discover what the trends are in this area.
Respondents were asked to indicate what areas
of activity were the responsibility of the business continuity function
/ department in their organisation. The full results are presented
in the table below.
| Activity
|
Percentage
saying that this was a business continuity responsibility |
| Business impact analysis |
93.5% |
| Testing and exercising the business
continuity plan |
92.1% |
| Crisis management |
84.9% |
| Training and awareness raising amongst
non-business continuity staff |
84.9% |
| Training business continuity staff
|
78.4% |
| Crisis team building and development
|
75.5% |
| Risk assessment |
74.8% |
| IT disaster recovery planning |
71.9% |
| Crisis communications planning |
69.8% |
| Auditing of own business continuity
plan |
65.5% |
| Risk awareness culture development
|
59.7% |
| IT disaster recovery solution design
|
50.4% |
| Liaison with local authorities |
50.4% |
| Operational risk management |
48.2% |
| Auditing of supplier business continuity
plans |
46.0% |
| Building evacuation |
45.3% |
| Human resource protection issues
|
41.7% |
| Information security management
|
38.1% |
| Terrorism protection measures |
33.1% |
| Telecommunications availability
solutions management |
32.4% |
| High and continuous availability
solutions management |
30.2% |
| High and continuous availability
solutions specifying |
30.2% |
| Physical security |
28.8% |
| Telecommunications availability
solutions specifying |
28.8% |
| Power protection solutions specifying
|
26.6% |
| Power protection solutions management
|
25.2% |
| Workplace health and safety |
25.2% |
| Strike contingency planning |
22.3% |
| Succession planning |
21.6% |
| Fire protection work |
20.1% |
| Insurance specifying |
20.1% |
| CBRN contingency planning |
18.0% |
| Continuity of government planning
|
17.3% |
| Flood protection work |
17.3% |
| High and continuous availability
solutions purchasing |
15.8% |
| Insurance purchasing |
15.1% |
| Safety of overseas staff |
14.4% |
| Telecommunications availability
solutions purchasing |
12.9% |
| Power protection solutions purchasing
|
12.2% |
| Other |
7.9% |
| Product recall planning |
4.3% |
| Product recall management |
3.6% |
It is no surprise to see ‘business impact analysis' (BIA)
heading the list and very encouraging to see ‘testing and
exercising the business continuity plan’ coming a close second.
The message of the vital importance of testing seems to finally
be getting through.
An interesting observation is the difference
between the number of respondents conducting BIAs (93.5 percent)
and the number undertaking risk assessments (74.8 percent). Possibly
some organisations do not make a distinction between the two.
It appears that in many organisations the business
continuity manager’s main activities are linked to the planning
process, with only a minority taking responsibility for purchasing
or specifying key components of business continuity, such as telecommunications
availability solutions (only 28.8 percent specify and 12.9 percent
purchase these products and services) and power protection solutions
(26.6 percent specify and 12.2 percent purchase these).
The number of respondents who audit their supplier’s
plans is encouraging, although at 46 percent it is still a minority
activity. However, this is a much higher figure than would have
been the case prior to Y2K and is an important step in improving
the general quality of business continuity plans.
Just over 50 percent of business continuity
managers liaise with local authorities concerning business continuity
activities, a low figure considering that this is one of the key
disciplines listed by the Business Continuity Institute and the
Disaster Recovery Institute International.
What’s
your analysis?
Let us know by e-mailing editor@continuitycentral.com
How many full time staff in a business
continuity team?
Survey respondents were asked to state how many members
there were in their business continuity team. By far the highest
response (43.7 percent) indicated that the team was made up of just
one person and 78.6 percent of respondents worked in small teams
of four or less. See the table below.
| Number of full time staff
in the business continuity team |
Percentage of
respondents |
| One |
43.7% |
| Two |
15.9% |
| Three |
10.3% |
| Four |
8.7% |
| Five to nine |
11.9% |
| Ten to nineteen |
2.4% |
| Twenty to fourty-nine |
0.8% |
| Fifty to ninety-nine |
1.6% |
| One hundred plus |
4.7% |
Industry of respondents
As can be seen from the table below, the financial sector was by
far the most strongly represented in the survey, but a good response
was received from a wide cross section of industry sectors.
| Sector |
Percentage |
| Finance / financial services / banking
|
38.1% |
| Insurance |
10.1% |
| Information technology |
7.9% |
| Other |
8.6% |
| Telecomms |
5.8% |
| Local / State government |
4.3% |
| Government |
3.6% |
| Consulting |
2.9% |
| Pharmaceuticals |
2.9% |
| Retail |
2.9% |
| Manufacturing |
2.9% |
| Education |
2.2% |
| Healthcare |
2.2% |
| Transport - air / rail |
2.2% |
| Utilities |
2.2% |
| Engineering and Construction |
1.4% |
Geographical location of respondents
41.3 percent of respondents were from the US, with the UK being
the next highest country with 30.7 percent. This was followed by
Australia and New Zealand (9.3 percent), India (6.7 percent) and
Canada (4 percent). A broad range of other countries made up the
remaining 8 percent.
•Date:
9th July 2004 •Region: Various •Type:
Article •Topic: BC
statistics
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