Designing a business continuity training program to maximize value and minimize cost

Susan Yardis

Introduction
Employees are often unaware of the existence of a business continuity management program within their organization and if they are aware of it, they may not be aware of their specific role within the business continuity effort. Can management rely on a business continuity program if employees are unaware of their response and recovery strategies? No – and as a result, the time and resources invested in the planning effort are often wasted. So why do organizations continue to place business continuity training and awareness raising at the end of a long list of priorities? Managers often believe that the costs associated with training development and delivery exceeds the benefit. The two most common objections include:

1. We don’t have the resources to develop and deliver custom training and awareness content because:

a) Business continuity personnel have competing responsibilities and requirements, and

b) The expense of outsourcing the development and delivery of training exceeds budgetary constraints.

2. The business areas have ‘a business to run.’ Participating in a training event is too time-consuming and is therefore a low priority.

Although these objections are common, they can be proven to be incorrect with advanced planning and the introduction of creative solutions.

In general, business decisions are evaluated using a simple equation – value minus cost equals benefit. When you create and communicate strong value statements, deliver compelling content efficiently and control costs through standardized curriculum development methodologies, the organization will realize significant benefits – specifically, increasing risk management confidence through higher levels of recoverability. This whitepaper explores the value of business continuity training and awareness programs, offers solutions to control development and delivery costs and introduces solutions to deliver content to key business continuity stakeholders.

This paper is only available as a PDF document: click here to read

Susan is a senior consultant with Avalution Consulting. Susan has four years of business continuity experience, focusing on training and awareness development for clients in a variety of industries, particularly mature financial services companies as well as those just starting their BCM effort. Avalution Consulting specializes in business continuity strategy design, development, implementation and long-term solution maintenance. www.avalution.com

•Date: 6th July 2007• Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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