Business continuity trends, triggers and technology
During September, ICM will host a series of free seminars which will examine future trends in business continuity. The events will cover how the industry is evolving, what influences are shaping the role of the business continuity professional and will provide some ideas about how to prepare for the coming changes. Continuity Central spoke to ICM’s managing director, Mike Osborne, to get a flavour of what the seminars have to offer: “After a decade of relative stability, the business continuity market is about to evolve again. Rapidly,” says Mr. Osborne. “The idea for these seminars is to explain what ICM expects these changes to be; what is driving developments; and what business continuity managers should be doing to make sure that their organizations don’t lag behind.” Drivers for change Technology “While the above is nothing new”, says Mr. Osborne, “What many people have not thought about is the flip-side. Many SMEs are using virtualization as their sole business continuity technology, and are not considering other areas, such as human resources and telephony. Many, also, have no external site; with business continuity and production services all under the same roof.” “Virtualization is great for helping create IT resilience. But IT resilience is not the same as business continuity. It is vital that the differences are understood. Organizations cannot afford to neglect the latter in favour of the former. ” Cloud computing services linked to virtualization strategies can add an extra dimension to IT continuity but, again, there are a few flies in the ointment. Security and data protection are weak areas that most people are aware of. But for business continuity managers another key flaw needs considering: testing. “Business continuity managers know that regular testing of BC arrangements is essential; but when it comes to cloud based resiliency strategies, this is easier said than done. If your cloud computing environment became unavailable, what then? Many organizations have not thought about, never mind tested, the processes and procedures which would be involved.” Governance “The business continuity manager is becoming a facilitator and coordinator of others, rather than having a hands-on operational roll,” says Mr. Osborne. “The days of business continuity being an additional duty handed to ‘volunteers’ from the IT department are passing. This is creating new challenges and questions. For example, where does risk management fit in? Is business continuity an aspect of risk management; or is it a separate discipline? Is enterprise risk management a natural extension of business continuity management? With many large organizations appointing Chief Risk Officers, these are pressing questions.” The move towards seeing business continuity as an aspect of governance is generating new pressures on time and budgetary resources, especially since the importance of supply chain business continuity management is being widely recognised. Auditing organizational and supply chain business continuity plans are real headaches, especially in recessionary times when business continuity teams have shrunk. The events Dates and venues For more details and to sign-up, click here.
•Date: 24th August 2010 • Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: BC general |
