| Survey identifies strengths and weaknesses in UK business risk planning
The survey of 7,200 business owners across 32 countries asked companies whether they had formal documentation in place for dealing with key risk areas such as the loss of suppliers/customers, loss of key personnel, disaster recovery and security of electronic information. UK businesses appear to be doing well in preparing for risks emanating from modern and high profile threats. 77 percent of businesses have documentation in place to deal with disaster recovery and for a major IT failure, comparing favourably with global (and EU) averages of 57 percent (57 percent) and 61 percent (63 percent). In addition, 81 percent of UK business have a plan in place for dealing with a breach in their security of electronic information, 80 percent on the privacy of information and 73 percent for the loss or destruction of property. These figures are good news for UK business and are above the EU and global averages; for example a meagre 55 percent of EU businesses are prepared for a loss/destruction of property and 74 percent of global businesses are ready for a breach in their security of information. However, the survey also identified areas of weakness within UK businesses: - Only 26 percent have a formal procedure in place to deal with a potential reputation or media crisis compared with a global average of 35 percent. - Additionally only 32 percent of UK business are prepared for a loss of key suppliers and 34 percent for a loss of key customers, compared with global (and EU averages) of 43 percent (43 percent) and 47 percent (43 percent) respectively. - Only 53 percent of UK businesses have a formal mechanism in place in terms of succession planning. Although higher than the global and EU averages of 50 percent and 41 percent respectively, it still means that almost half of businesses remain inadequately prepared in this area. The research was conducted by Experian Business Strategies Limited and Harris Interactive. To find out more about IBR and to obtain details of IBR reports and results please visit www.internationalbusinessreport.com
•Date: 18th Sept 2007• Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: Operational risk
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