| Good news and bad news for the business continuity training industry…
During April and May Continuity Central conducted the most in-depth survey ever into the business continuity training sector and, while on the budget front there was some good news for business continuity training companies, the survey painted a fairly bleak picture of the general perception of the adequacy of current training provision. In total 212 responses were received and the amount of business continuity experience represented by the sample was considerable. 71 percent of respondents had more than five years experience as business continuity professionals, with 8.2 percent having more than 20 years worth. Just 2.0 percent of respondents had no business continuity experience, and 27.2 percent has between one and four years. Responses were received from many countries around the world. The top five being United States (47.8 percent), United Kingdom, (20.4 percent), Canada (11.5 percent), Australia (3.5 percent) and India / Malaysia (both 2.7 percent). Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI) and Business Continuity Institute (BCI) certifications were the most common existing qualifications held by respondents. In total 36.8 percent had DRI certification (33 percent CBCP and 3.8 percent ABCP) and 13.2 percent were BCI certified (2.4 percent FBCI, 9.4 percent MBCI and 1.4 percent ABCI). 5.2 percent of respondents had a related Bachelors-level degree and 3.3 percent were MBAs. Respondents were asked what their preferred location is for the delivery of training courses. An informal but external (non-company) venue, such as a hotel seminar room, was the most popular, with 41.3 percent preferring this, and online course delivery via the Internet was the second highest choice – 24.5 percent would prefer this method. An in-house venue, such as their company’s training room, is where 18.9 percent would like training to be delivered, followed in last place (15.3 percent) by a formal educational venue such as a university. In terms of budgets for business continuity training, 36 percent of respondents’ companies have a formal budget. The remaining 64 percent don’t. Encouragingly for training providers 35 percent of budgets have been increased over the last year. 43 percent have stayed the same and 11.3 percent have been reduced. Perhaps the most significant finding of the survey was the discovery of how much negative feeling there is amongst the business continuity professionals surveyed about the training opportunities that are currently available for business continuity professional development. 78.6 percent of respondents said that the current training opportunities are inadequate (66 percent stated ‘somewhat inadequate’ and 12.6 percent stated ‘totally inadequate’). 20.4 percent thought that current training opportunities were ‘adequate’ and just 0.9 percent thought they were ‘excellent’. Finally, respondents were asked: “If you could invent your three ideal training courses what would they be?” A list of over 400 separate suggestions for course titles was generated by the survey – if you would like to receive the full list e-mail editor@continuitycentral.com
•Date:
11th June 2004 •Region: Worldwide •Type:
Article •Topic: BC
general |
