Business Continuity Management

In a nutshell – it’s about building a resilient business and in particular it's not just about Information Technology disaster recovery.

BCM

• Is the process of actively managing your business to make sure that your critical business processes are operating normally at all times.

• Business Continuity does not just ensure the survival of your business if disaster strikes. It is just as important in ensuring smooth day to day operations.

BCM defines

The business continuity management process defines and clarifies:

• The framework for business preparedness, emergency response and business recovery.

• The critical business processes that must continue.

• Defined recovery strategies for the critical business processes.

• Simple action plans to recover the critical business processes.

• Recovery of critical information system functions.

• Leadership roles and responsibilities.

• Information about key resources.

Companies that can quickly identify and respond to threats and challenges will be the companies that survive and prosper.

Business continuity is the process of preparing your business for and responding to a natural or man-made disaster, then returning to normal operations.

Business continuity identifies hazards and anticipates disaster events. It aims to eliminate or at least mitigate hazards and provides an action  plan to implement if an event occurs.

The result

The primary output you want from the business continuity process is a plan.

Collectively the plan comprises the elements that define the approach to dealing with a disruption to business continuity and outlines the steps needed to recover lost business functions. This includes:

• Roles & responsibilities  of the Crisis Management Team, who they are and what they do.
• Contact information for key staff and other key emergency and service providers.
• Response & recovery  action plans for the continuation and recovery of the critical business processes and functions.
• Check Lists  or memory aids for crisis management activities.