RISCAuthority launches ROBUST ‘Resilient Business Software Toolkit’

RISCAuthority is offering its new ROBUST ‘Resilient Business Software Toolkit’ free of charge to help the SME market to produce effective business continuity plans. The business continuity planning software is available in complete form from the launch site https://robust.riscauthority.co.uk together with all supporting documentation and a significant portion of relevant parts of the prestigious RISCAuthority library.

RISCAuthority is wholly funded by a group of 33 UK insurance companies with a remit to conduct research to support the development of best practice guidance in all areas of loss mitigation and is probably best known for the UK Sprinkler Rules, Risk Control Guides, Security Guides and Property Protection Building Guides. The scheme is administered by the Fire Protection Association; the UK’s National Fire Safety Organisation: a not-for-profit company.

Dr James Glockling, technical director of the FPA and director of RISCAuthority says “Whilst there is a great deal out there to make everyone aware of the needs and benefits of undertaking business continuity planning there is little in place to help those considering it take the next step without significant commitment of cost and effort”.

RISCAuthority analysis showed that the hurdles preventing companies using business continuity software were remarkable in how small and numerous they were. They included: cost (any); data storage offsite (even if it does make good business continuity sense); complex server based configuration (again, even if it does make good business continuity sense); tools too complex for target audience; expensive software dependencies; BIA’s that ask questions from people not in a position to answer them; poor visibility of where the end is; little reward; not much benefit over doing it on paper (regurgitation of what you put in).

To address these issues all production, hosting and support costs have been borne by RISCAuthority and the latest programming techniques have been employed to ensure that the only software dependency is that a suitable Windows operating system is installed (XP or Vista). Inbuilt into the software are routines that continuously update the data, checking for currency, completeness and quality, and displaying this information in simple traffic light form on the front page so the user always has visibility of where they are in respect of completion and upkeep. At all stages the relative importance of activities and associated resources to your business is calculated and displayed in ‘ranked’ lists. An incident management planning module enables the creation of a complete suite of documentation for the conduct of the meeting including calling notices, agendas, relevant parts of the BCP and Action Cards pertaining to the causes of the loss of capability.

The ROBUST software is designed to provide for a simple and intuitive introduction to business continuity and its development has required careful consideration of many factors, most important of which being achieving the correct balance between functionality and ‘instant’ appeal to the target audience. Needless to say some elements that represent good business continuity practice have been omitted on the basis of being too ‘black belt’ for those whom we have perhaps only 30 minutes to impress from first install.

The production of the business continuity plan is of course only one part of the business continuity management system but its production does represent a valuable milestone in addressing business resilience. It is hoped that ROBUST will form an introduction that will eventually lead to BCM being engrained within company procedures. Whilst ROBUST may suffice for some it is hoped that once the appreciation is there many will seek BC products and services more bespoke and appropriate to their business.

Douglas Barnett, AXA’s head of customer risk management says “The launch of the ROBUST business continuity tool is a commitment by the major UK insurers to business in the UK by, for the first time, delivering a free-to-download product for all business that has been developed by the industries experts. Business continuity planning has for too long been seen as too complicated or too expensive for business to undertake – the new ROBUST tool will resolve many of the concerns of the business community”.

https://robust.riscauthority.co.uk

•Date: 22nd Sept 2009• Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: BC software
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