Business Continuity Management (BCM) is an ongoing process of risk assessment and management with the purpose of ensuring that the business can continue if risks materialise. These risks could be from the external environment (over which you have no control, such as power failure) or from within your organisation, such as deliberate or accidental damage to systems. Business continuity is not just concerned with disaster recovery; it addresses anything that could affect the continuity of service over the long term, such as staff shortages in specialist areas.
Business continuity management revolves around a business continuity plan (BCP), which must be endorsed by senior management and subjected to rigorous testing.
BCM is all about understanding the business and establishing what is vital for its survival. If a mission statement and key supporting aims exist, these indicate where the organisation is focused. It is on mission critical activities that BCM has to focus.
Your organisation has many dependencies, both internally and externally, that support the mission critical process and functions. These can include providers, customers, other stakeholders, IT systems and manufacturing processes, which must be identified at an early stage. You should involve representatives from these key dependencies will add value to the process.
There must be a cultural readiness to accept BCM. There should be an education and awareness programme to ensure organisation-wide understanding and adoption of the plan, covering internal and external stakeholders.
RTG consultants will work with you to develop this process, help you to develop the BCM process and develop the BCP, document, test and audit