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 The following are the results of a survey conducted by PlanB Consulting on BS25999 during March – May 2010. The survey asked people to respond to the following statement: “The three hints and tips I would give to somebody taking their organisation to BS 25999 certification are...” These were then collated into the top ten tips below:
1. Make sure that certification is right for your organization in terms of costs, benefits and impact.
2. Ensure that you have the full support of the board/senior management.
3. Find an enthusiastic business continuity manager and ensure that they are motivated.
4. Be prepared to commit to achieving the standard and don’t underestimate the work involved. Dedication is required as the process will not be over in a couple of months.
5. Accept professional advice from reliable sources e.g. from a company that has previously achieved the standard.
6. Be very familiar with the standard (Part 2) and use it as a benchmark to conduct a gap analysis to ensure that you are meeting its requirements.
7. Expose employees to the standard and provide full training to those likely to be interviewed by the auditors.
8. Accurate documentation is essential to the process. Review the plan regularly since the business continuity plan is constantly evolving.
9. Practise. Regularly test the plan with realistic incidents to ensure that it works.
10. Only try and achieve certification when you are ready to pass. Review and postpone if you are not yet ready since it is better to postpone that to fail. Get a suitably qualified advisor to audit before the real event.
In response to the survey PlanB Consulting director, Charlie Maclean-Bristol, said: “My main learning point is that many business continuity practitioners feel, if they have general business continuity in place within their organization, it is little additional work to get BS 25999 in place. This is not usually the case! My tip is not to go for certification lightly, makes sure that you are aware of the work and the ongoing requirements before deciding to take your organization for certification.”
www.planbconsulting.co.uk
•Date: 20th August 2010 • Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: BC standards
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