Business continuity management becoming mainstream
Whereas just 30 percent of organizations had corporate business continuity plans in place six years ago, more than 83 percent of 273 survey respondents representing a cross section of industries say they now have formal business continuity plans. Within the last year alone, 70 percent of respondents reported having business continuity management programs for most, if not all, of their critical business functions, up from 41 percent a year ago. “Clearly, organizations have accelerated and intensified the development and deployment of business continuity management programs,” said Steve Ross, a director and the business continuity leader of Deloitte & Touche’s Security Services & Privacy practice. “More importantly, BCM programs are being elevated and extended to the enterprise level.” Many external factors within the past five years have influenced companies’ approaches toward business continuity planning, including the terrorist attacks of September 11, but this year’s survey points to numerous significant changes in the regulatory landscape that have directly and indirectly impacted companies’ business continuity investment. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, HIPAA and Basel II are among the regulatory requirements over the past five years that have either driven or influenced BCM activity. Additionally, the survey shows management’s intolerance for operational downtime continues to be a leading driver behind establishing a business continuity management program, with 33 percent of respondents citing the need to ensure operational resiliency and availability. Twelve percent of organizations reported zero tolerance for operational disruption to their core business functions, a significant increase from 5.6 percent in 2004. And the funding of BCM programs backs the rhetoric. Almost 30 percent of companies surveyed report at least $1 million in business continuity management budget allocation, a jump of 11 percent from 2004. For organizations with budgets above $500,000, the survey findings suggest that approximately one full-time employee staff member is hired for each $750,000 to $1.5 million in BCM budget. The survey is available at www.deloitte.com/us/bcmsurvey and was conducted in collaboration with CPM.
•Date: 14th Feb 2006• Region: US • Type: Article •Topic: BC statistics |
