UK business continuity snapshot published

The Chartered Management Institute has published the results of its annual survey into the UK business continuity sector. Published in association with the Business Continuity Institute and Colt Communications, the study reveals that only 47 percent of Chartered Management Institute members’ organisations have business continuity plans.

John Sharp, chief executive of the Business Continuity Institute said: “This is the fifth year that this study has been carried out and we are very concerned that many UK organisations continue to bury their heads in the sand.”

The survey found that loss of IT capacity (25 percent of respondents) and telecoms services (23 percent) were the top two areas where organisations had experienced disruption during the last year. This was reflected in levels of concern about the potential for disruption, with 62 percent of respondents saying that they were concerned about the threat of disruption to telecoms and 60 percent citing IT capacity as an area of concern. These were followed by fire (53 percent) and loss of site (51 percent).

Respondents also confirmed the accepted wisdom that most UK business continuity plans are not holistic. Instead they focus, understandably where budgets and resources are limited, on the key threats. 84 percent of those respondents whose organisations had business continuity plans said that these plans covered loss of IT capacity, while 65 percent of plans covered telecoms systems. This was closely followed by loss of site (64 percent) and fire (60 percent).

Testing and rehearsal continues to be an issue, with only 57 percent of business continuity plans being rehearsed once a year or more. 24 percent of respondents said that their plans had never been tested. Desk-based audits (59 percent) and walk-throughs (38 percent) are the most popular methods of testing.

Benchmarking has not yet taken off in the UK, with only 32 percent of respondents saying that their business continuity plans had been externally evaluated or benchmarked.

To read the full survey results click here (eight page PDF)

•Date: 10th March 2004 •Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: BC stats
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