Business continuity awareness raising: taking it to the next level

Various statistical and anecdotal evidence points to an increase in the awareness of business continuity, but how do we take this further? David Honour comments.

Various statistical and anecdotal evidence points to an increase in the awareness of business continuity, especially amongst larger companies, and Business Continuity Awareness Week, currently being promoted in most areas of the world, offers a good chance to celebrate that the words ‘business continuity’ are not always met with a blank stare.

Some supporting evidence for the above claim:

* A recent Chartered Management Institute survey, featured in Continuity Central last week, found that the number of organisations that have a business continuity plan covering their critical business activities stands at 51 percent, compared to 47 percent in 2004, 46 percent in 2003 and 45 percent in 2002.

* In the fifth annual survey of business continuity professionals conducted by Deloitte & Touche LLP and CPM Global Assurance, 50 percent of respondents were found to have implemented enterprise-wide business continuity and disaster recovery plans. This figure was up 20 percent from five years ago.

* A Millward Brown IntelliQuest study found that improving business continuity management is the third highest priority for US businesses.

* A survey carried out by IDC found that only 33 percent of Irish businesses did not have a business continuity programme in place, and 57 percent of these felt that this situation would change in the foreseeable future.

* An IDC survey of US businesses found that IT spending on security and business continuity had increased at 59 percent of organisations in the last 12 months.

* The increasing amount of regulator activity related to business continuity which has been seen around the world in the past 12 months.

* The growth in standards and best practice guidance that has taken place recently.

The awareness of business continuity is increasing, albeit not as quickly as we might wish; and recognising that this growth is skewed towards the larger companies and organisations.

In the light of the above, I believe it is now time for the industry to change tactics if we are to continue this growth in awareness.

There are three areas where a change of focus may pay dividends:

1) Stop focussing on scare tactics and accentuate the positive.
I’ve said this before, but it’s worth reiterating. Attempting to scare organisations into taking business continuity seriously may have reached the limit of its effectiveness. Telling businesses how bad they are for not implementing business continuity is only likely to result in grudging buy-in to business continuity, and the investment is likely to be under-funded and to be the first to be cut as soon as times are hard. We need to show why business continuity is a good investment because it provides positive benefits to a company, not just in times of crisis but every day. Business continuity management is about creating resilient businesses; companies that are flexible and which can quickly identify and respond to challenges and threats. And its about optimising process availability, so that businesses can operate to their maximum efficiency at all times. This means that the organisation that implements business continuity management will be more productive, more reliable and an excellent partner and supplier. When it sets a deadline it will meet it. When it undertakes a project, it will deliver on time and on budget. To be the best in your industry; to be the smartest in your sector; to be a leader, you need effective business continuity management. Not because it means you will survive into the distant future; but because it will make you a better business today.

2) Address vertical sectors
Most (all?) of the business continuity guidance and standards that have been published focus on generalised businesses. This makes it harder for organisations operating in some sectors to get a handle on what business continuity management really means for them. This, in turn, results in such organisations either failing to progress at all, or simply focussing on information technology as the most obvious areas of weakness. Business continuity industry leaders need to provide more sector-specific information, offering real-world guidance on how to conduct holistic business continuity management in specialist fields of industry.

3) Use plain English
The business continuity industry has suffered because we have created our own language and terminology. As a result the rest of industry has found it harder to understand the subject. We need to make sure that in our communications, in our guidance and in our standards, we use general business language not our own opaque terms and anachronisms.

In conclusion, let’s use Business Continuity Awareness Week as an opportunity to review our success to date. Let’s take a moment to appreciate all the hard work that numerous individuals, organisations and companies around the world have put into getting us to this level of awareness. And let’s reflect on how we take the next step forward.

The above list of suggestions is not exhaustive – if you would like to add your thoughts and comments to extend the list please e-mail Continuity Central.

David Honour is editor of Continuity Central.

•Date: 15th March 2005 •Region: World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
Rate this article or make a comment - click here