What is Business Continuity Management?

The Business Continuity Institute defines Business Continuity Management (BCM) as:

“A management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an organisation and provides a framework for building resilience with the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interest of key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities.”

The key objectives of an effective BCM strategy are:

• Ensure safety of staff
• Protect reputation and brand image
• Minimise business interruption events on customers/clients
• Limit/prevent impact beyond the organisation
• Demonstrate effective  and efficient governance to the media, markets and stakeholders
• Protect the organisation’s assets
• Meet insurance, legal and regulatory requirements

BCM is not just about disaster recovery, crisis management, risk management or about IT. It is a business issue. It presents a company with the opportunity to review the way the organisation performs its processes to improve procedures and practices and increase resilience to interruption and loss.

Why do I need a Business Continuity Plan ?