What is a business continuity management system?
Effective BCM encompasses risk identification, impact analysis, and the development of response strategies to counteract interruptions to business processes. It also involves the continuous maintenance, review, and testing of these strategies to ensure readiness. The primary objective of BCM is to minimise disruptions’ operational, financial, legal, and reputational impacts.
In cyber security, BCM plays a crucial role in preparing for and managing incidents such as cyber-attacks, data breaches, and system failures. It involves coordination between various disciplines, including IT disaster recovery, crisis management, and incident response.
What does a business continuity manager do?
Business continuity managers implement and manage the day-to-day aspects of business continuity plans. They are involved in continuity procedures, incident response, and recovery efforts. Their duties include conducting business impact analyses, risk assessments, and coordinating drills to test whether the current continuity strategies are effective. Business continuity managers ensure their organisations can continue operations without disruption during a crisis.
What are the 3 main areas of business continuity management?
Business continuity management consists of three main areas: disaster response plans, crisis management processes, and operation recovery and resolution.
The disaster recovery plan is required to reduce the impact of any problems that may occur. It does this by putting in place any procedures that can be used to make recovery a more straightforward process. This plan should be available at different levels to ensure that a recovery plan can be put in place for any issues, no matter how small or large. Furthermore, a disaster recovery plan should detail emergency responses, designated stakeholders, and recovery plans once the problem has been solved. The plan should also come in the form of a formally produced document.
Crisis management processes involve executing the procedures detailed in the disaster recovery plan. This area aims to ensure that problems are nullified easily and that everything is working as it should when an issue arises. This means that the focus is on detailing any developments the company needs to put into action to work through the problem.
Operation recovery and resolution focus on returning operations to normal after an attack. They also consider what can be learned from the experience and what can be changed to prevent the same issue in the future.
What is the difference between business continuity and crisis management?
Business continuity and crisis management may be similar, but key differences exist. For starters, a crisis management plan outlines the steps a company needs to take during a crisis. On the other hand, a business continuity plan is more of a prevention and recovery system, mainly implemented in case of a cyber-attack or natural disaster.
Some other differences are what is included in each of these plans. In a crisis management plan, you must include a crisis response strategy, contact information for key people and services, media management, etc. A business continuity plan instead consists of an analysis of critical functions, a list of potential risks in order of priority, strategies/mitigation activities to protect vital components and evidence that the business continuity strategies have been tested.
Key Characteristics:
- Risk Assessment: Identifying potential threats to business operations and assessing their likelihood and potential impact.
- Business Impact Analysis (BIA): Determining the effect of a disruption on the organisation’s critical functions and processes.
- Strategy Development: Formulating responses and recovery tactics to ensure business continuity under adverse conditions.
- Testing and Maintenance: Regular exercises are conducted to validate the plan’s effectiveness and update the business continuity plans as necessary.
Examples:
- Real-World Example: An organisation activates its BCM plan following a ransomware attack that encrypts key operational systems, using predefined processes to maintain critical functions.
- Hypothetical Scenario: A financial services company experiences a power outage in their data centre but continues operations seamlessly through predefined failover mechanisms to a secondary location as per their BCM strategy.
Related Terms:
- Disaster Recovery (DR): A focused subset of BCM specifically dedicated to restoring IT and technological infrastructure after a crisis.
- Crisis Management: The overall coordination of an organisation’s response to a crisis in a way that deals with the immediate aftermath and operational consequences.
- Incident Response: An organisation’s methodology to respond to and manage a cyber attack or data breach is typically included within a BCM framework.
