Business Continuity Management (BCM)

What is Business Continuity Management?

Business Continuity Management (BCM) is formally defined in British Standard BS25999-2 as:

 

“A holistic management process that identifies potential threats to an organisation and the impacts to business operations that those threats, if realised, might cause, and which provides a framework for building organisational resilience with the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value-creating activities.”

 

More simply, BCM is a process that protects organisations against disruption. Incidents happen all the while; buildings burn down, neighbourhoods are flooded, and computers stop working at the most inconvenient times. There are two options to deal with this reality:

 

  1. Trust to luck (maybe it won’t happen to me and even if it does, maybe I can deal with it then).
  2. Get a grip (reduce risks, make contingency plans)

 

Business Continuity Management is for organisations that prefer option 2.

 

What is a Business Continuity Management System (BCMS)?

Like any other management system, a BCMS provides a structured approach that enables management to achieve its objectives.

 

BS25999 provides a detailed description of a BCMS that is comprised of 6 stages:

 

  • Programme Management – how to setup and run the BCM programme
  • Understanding the organisation – what must be delivered
  • BCM Strategy – how it will be delivered
  • Implementing a BCM Response – creating the deliverables (plans and infrastructure)
  • Exercise, Maintenance and Review – making sure that the deliverables are fit for purpose
  • Embedding BCM – raising awareness and linking BCM to other management processes

 

VEGA's approach to Business Continuity Management

The key principles of VEGA’s approach to BCM are:

 

  1. Apply best-practice and recognised standards – VEGA’s BCM services are designed to support BS25999 and VEGA is a member of the British Standards Institute (BSI) Associate Consultant Programme for BS25999. Our consultants are qualified and experienced in BCM and all hold specific BCM qualifications from the Business Continuity Institute.
  2. Best value – VEGA provides all the elements of a complete BCM service and we encourage our clients to cherry-pick the components that provide the most value for them. Our aim is work with our customer’s staff to transfer BCM skills and knowledge and to create a BCM capability that continues beyond VEGA’s direct involvement. VEGA provides a range of consulting services in areas that are complementary to BCM; Risk Management, Enterprise Modeling, Procurement and Information Security are prime examples. Our consultants work with specialists in all of these areas and are able to call upon these resources whenever this can add value to a BCM project.
  3. Trusted Advisor – VEGA is a vendor-neutral consultancy. Using our experience, we are able to help our clients to procure third-party services, but we do not sell or promote any particular technology or provider. Because of this, our clients know that when we make recommendations we do so in the interests of the client and not the supplier.

 

Since most BCM programmes will involve sensitive and confidential information, all of VEGA’s BCM consultants are security cleared to SC level or above. This provides our clients with peace of mind that when working with our consultants in the heart of their organisation.

 

Applying VEGA's Business Continuity Management services

VEGA’s clients apply our services for a variety of reasons. Often, the main driver is simply good corporate governance but we see an increasing demand to help with compliance objectives, such as:

 

  • Civil Contingencies Act
  • HMG Security Policy Framework
  • JSP 503
  • ISO 27001
  • Internal and External audit

 

To discuss your particular BCM requirements and find out how we can help you, please contact us.

 

 

Business Continuity Planning and Management – Thought Leadership from VEGA

VEGA has developed thought leadership relating to BCM which you can read online or register for PDF copies.

 

Contact VEGA for further information about business continuity planning and business continuity management