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 Longest running annual survey provides a useful snapshot of business continuity in the UK.
‘Disruption and Resilience’, a report published by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the UK Cabinet Office, shows that only 49 percent of UK organizations have adequate business continuity plans in place.
Ruth Spellman, CMI chief executive, said: “Some business leaders have taken an ostrich approach to planning, simply burying their heads in the sand and hoping that they do not have to deal with the worst. Despite the pressures of the economic downturn, UK businesses have to appreciate that business continuity management is not a ‘nice to have’ – it is crucial to business survival. Until UK managers have the time and skills they need to write, test and update these plans, and leaders give them the priority they deserve, this will remain a severe risk for the UK economy.”
The report makes it clear that adequate business continuity planning is ‘hugely beneficial’. 79 percent of those managers who had plans and were forced to activate them last year, admitted that the impact of unusual circumstances was reduced as a result.
Nearly all the organizations questioned (93 percent) were affected by last December’s heavy UK snowfall, yet extreme weather is cited as a significant threat by just 48 percent of managers surveyed, with loss of IT (69 percent), loss of telecommunications (62 percent) and loss of access to site (56 percent) being the three crises that managers fear the most. In addition, fewer than half of all organizations with a plan (48 percent) test them on an annual basis and, worryingly, where shortcomings are identified, 9 percent of organizations still fail to take action to remedy them.
Stuart Sterling, Civil Contingencies Secretariat in the Cabinet Office, said; “It is understandable that the pressures of the recession mean that, for some organizations, business continuity planning moved down the priority list. However, as we saw with the snowfall at the end of December last year, the potential for lost revenue as a result of inadequate planning cannot be ignored. If organizations fail to prepare then they must, in turn, be prepared to fail.”
Other highlights include:
Drivers of business continuity management: corporate governance remains the biggest driver for organizations implementing BCM, but this has dropped from 47 percent in 2009 to 38 percent in 2010). Commercial drivers of BCM remain prominent with demands from existing customers (31 percent) and potential customers (21 percent) acting as drivers. Central government (21 percent) and public sector procurement contracts (16 percent) continue to play an important role.
BS 25999: 41 percent of respondents who have business continuity plans are aware of BS 25999. Of the organizations with a specific business continuity plan only 14 percent use the standard to evaluate it.
BCM budgets: only around a quarter of managers said they had a dedicated
budget (27 percent) while around half (48 percent) reported that they do not. It does not appear that the recession has resulted in extensive budget cuts.
The full report can be read here (PDF).
•Date: 22nd March 2010 • Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: BC statistics
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