Business Continuity Management

Global Best Practices

Andrew Hiles, Kristen Noakes-Fry

• Verlag: Rothstein Publishing
• Jahr: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781931332835
• Auflage: 4
• Thema: Business
• Thema: Management

At this critical point in your Business Continuity Management studies and research, you need one definitive, comprehensive professional textbook that will take you to the next step. In his 4th edition of Business Continuity Management: Global Best Practices, Andrew Hiles gives you a wealth of real-world analysis and advice – based on international standards and grounded in best practices -- a textbook for today, a reference for your entire career. With so much to learn in this changing profession, you don't want to risk missing out on something you'll need later.

Does one of these describe you?

• Preparing for a Business Continuity Management career, needing step-by-step guidelines,
• Working in BCM, looking to deepen knowledge and stay current -- and create, update, or test a Business Continuity Plan.
• Managing in BCM, finance, facilities, emergency preparedness or other field, seeking to know as much as much as possible to make the decisions to keep the company going in the face of a business interruption.

Hiles has designed the book for readers on three distinct levels: Initiate, Foundation, and Practitioner. Each chapter ends with an Action Plan, pinpointing the primary message of the chapter and a Business Continuity Road Map, outlining the actions for the reader at that level.

NEW in the 4th Edition:

• Supply chain risk -- extensive chapter with valuable advice on contracting.
• Standards -- timely information and analysis of global/country-specific standards, with detailed appendices on ISO 22301/22313 and NFPA 1600.
• New technologies and their impact – mobile computing, cloud computing, bring your own device, Internet of things, and more.
• Case studies – vivid examples of crises and disruptions and responses to them.
• Horizon scanning of new risks – and a hint of the future of BCM.
• Professional certification and training – explores issues so important to your career.
• Proven techniques to win consensus on BC strategy and planning.
• BCP testing – advice and suggestions on conducting a successful exercise or test of your plan
• To assist with learning -- chapter learning objectives, case studies, real-life examples, self-examination and discussion questions, forms, checklists, charts and graphs, glossary, and index.

Downloadable resources and tools – hundreds of pages, including project plans, risk analysis forms, BIA spreadsheets, BC plan formats, and more.

Instructional Materials -- valuable classroom tools, including Instructor's Manual, Test Bank, and slides -- available for use by approved adopters in college courses and professional development training.

1

Introduction to Business Continuity

Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted.

–British Army Field Service Regulations, 1912

You can never do too much reconnaissance.

–General George S. Patton, Jr., War as I Knew It

While business continuity (BC) concepts have been around for some time, the world has certainly changed and BC practices have had to change to keep up. Since publication of the first edition of this book in 1997, new editions have been constantly updated to provide advice and guidance on best practices. With so much change over so many years, a whole new generation of BC practitioners has emerged. This fourth edition responds to the need for a best practices guide to help those new to BC planning to create and implement a BC project from a zero base to a completed, tested BC plan and is also intended to refresh more experienced BC practitioners.

Business continuity is important – the ability of your organization to survive and succeed (and, with it, your own job) may depend on the capability to bounce back after a disaster. The overall objective is to achieve the mission of your organization – no matter what disruptions happen along the way.

This chapter will help you to:

Develop an overall appreciation of BC.

Establish the need for BC and its benefits.

Understand some of the drivers for BC.

Prepare to take the first steps to initiate a BC program.

Ensure that your BC project is conducted in accordance with best industry practice.

As we begin our discussion of the initial stage of a BC project, you will learn the importance of BC, not only for your own knowledge and professional development, but also to help you in educating the management and staff of your organization. Whether you have a simple, one-site operation or a global enterprise, you will find that BC is a multifaceted program that requires several steps and considerations. In this chapter, you will learn the basics of what BC is all about and how to get started. The general principles introduced below will be amplified in detail in the chapters that follow.

1.1 What Is Business Continuity and Why Should We Have It?

BC can be defined as the uninterrupted availability of all key resources supporting essential business functions.

Business continuity management (BCM) provides for the availability of processes and resources following a disruption of the business in order to ensure the continued achievement of mission critical objectives.

Every organization should have a business continuity plan (BCP), especially if the organization has the following characteristics:

A requirement for availability during an extended working day.

High dependency on key facilities.

Heavy reliance on computers, data, data communications, and telephony.

A high level of compliance, audit, legal, or regulatory impact in the event of loss of the facility.

Potential legal liability as a consequence of facility or data loss.

Possible resultant loss of workforce confidence and support.

Potential loss of political and stakeholder support, market confidence, or market share.

Taken together, the value of the business or mission, the risk to it, and the impact of a disaster upon it, combine to justify investment in BC planning, recovery facilities, stand-by equipment, communications capability, and office accommodation.

Business dynamics demand a recovery plan and capability that are flexible and adaptable to meet the specific priorities and circumstances at the time of disaster or disruption.

Your BC program will benefit your organization by providing:

A more resilient operational infrastructure.

Compliance with legal, regulatory, and quality requirements for risk assessment and risk management.

The capability of continuing to achieve your mission in the event of a disaster.

The capability to continue your business profitably in the event of a disaster.

The capability to maintain market share in the event of a disaster.

Improved morale of employees, knowing that management is protecting their jobs.

The protection of your reputation, image, and brand value.

Even with a BCP in place, you could still experience a disaster causing loss of premises and equipment; however, your plan should reduce the likelihood of disruption to your business operations and, should disruption occur, mitigate damage and ensure retention of your customer base and market.

The very least that any organization should do is to finalize the BCP and have it in practice, even if the organization is not ready to commit to paying for standby recovery services.

Typically, BCM looks at the worst case; in the event of a lesser incident, subsets of the BCP can then be implemented. Good plans also split the response activities into two parts: one to manage the ongoing business activities, the other to handle disaster response and recovery. Considering specific disaster scenarios is good in risk assessment and for BCP testing, but not for BCP development. In BC planning, we should be less concerned with what caused the disaster than wit...