Why BCM

Business Continuity Management (BCM) is an extension of risk management and mitigation and what happens when risk actually materialises and how this is handled within an organisation. The materialisation of risk can range from a minor incident to a major disaster, and if handled badly,   could escalate into a situation that will put a company or organisation into a non-recoverable state and potentially lead to criminal prosecution.

Risk should be managed within the daily operational procedures and practices. Risk should be managed using risk mitigation methodology and implemented through a variety of processes, infrastructure, technology, management, communication, and education. The level of risk including  the possibility of occurrence will dictate if it is handled through daily and scheduled operating procedures or outlined in the Business Continuity Plan (BCP). However, the BCP often lies in a book on a shelf with only a limited number of personnel within an organisation having access or being experienced in dealing with it. This point should not be ignored; as if incidents are poorly managed they can escalate into major crisis or disasters.  In addition, some events cannot be planned for, so it is vital to have a corporate structure, practices and culture to manage any event when it materialises.

As stated, risk management focuses on risk mitigation not risk elimination.  So what happens when operations depart from the norm to an unplanned incident or disaster?  This is where BCM fits in as it ensures that the strategy, plans, training and supporting infrastructure are in place to seamlessly manage all events.

The problem with these rarer events is that people do not generally (on a day to day basis) have to deal with them and few personnel have experience in handling them. Experience is only gained by going through an actual event or exercise. This experience is invaluable, but also very easily lost or only retained within a few individuals within an organisation. Most current organisations do not have a truly effective medium to pass this generational knowledge on.

In addition, complexity of delivering a robust BCM solution can be a key inhibitor for organisations to make a real concerted effort and deliver practical and robust BCM solutions.  Generally, it relies on all the individuals to make cohesive, concerted, and ongoing effort over and above their  everyday duties. It also requires  the senior management team to truly understand the value of effective BCM and deliver the leadership ,time and investment to make it successful.   It is very easy for organisations to bury their heads in the sand and hope nothing will happen, but hope is not a strategy!! BCM software delivers a centralised and cohesive infrastructure to enable all of this to be achieved in an efficient and cost effective manner.

The problem of not addressing BCM by its nature does not seem to impact an organisation or management team on a day to day basis, but it does. An effective BCM solution   will deliver an infrastructure that not only manages the rare events effectively but delivers a system and culture that dramatically improves the management of the daily incidents, directly impacting the company’s bottom line.

 The BCM software is a key part of the BCM jigsaw puzzle as it delivers an enterprise wide platform to deliver all of the above.  BCM software materialises the BCM plan from book on a shelf to a practical opertaional process and delivers;  

• Significant cost reduction and impact of unplanned events and BCM
• A medium for knowledge and experience transfer
• Centralised and unified control and management
• Centralised and auditable training
• A significant reduction of complexity and effort
• Enterprise  visibility
• Effective communication
• Moves the BCM plan from book on a shelf to operational deployment.