Something that Darrin, one of our principal consultants, recently came across has us all thinking; was John F. Kennedy secretly a business continuity consultant?


Of course, he's right, there are costs in implementing any program of action, but they aren't always significant; and there are usually a number of solutions, at varying costs, to be considered.

More importantly, the cost of a continuity program needs to be matched to your Board or Executive Management Team's risk appetite, along with an assessment of risk rating (a factor of likelihood and impact), the industry in which you work (for example, can healthcare providers really afford not to have some level of continuity planning?) and plain old commercial reality ("this is what we've budgeted towards BCM this financial year").
 
We're often asked what percentage of revenue or profit should be spent on continuity planning.  There are some industry figures around, but unfortunately, considering the above factors, there's no simple answer.  The solution?  Don't start writing plans without completing a risk evaluation and business impact analysis, then cost out various strategy options, get agreement on them, and only then, start plan development and implementation activities.

And as JFK summarises, what is the real cost of "comfortable inaction"?  Have you calculated yours?
 
I hope you enjoy this month's edition.

Glasgow Airport is owned and operated by BAA Ltd.

Handling over 8.8 million passengers a year, it is the busiest of the three BAA-owed Scottish Airports.  Glasgow is situated in the west of Scotland, with the airport some 7 miles to the west of the city centre, close to the town of Paisley.

On 30 June 2007, the second busiest day of the year due to the school holidays commencing the previous day, Glasgow Airport became the target for a car bomb attack, which propelled the airport into the glare of the world's media and created severe business continuity issues for the airport.

In line with BAA group requirements, Glasgow Airport has a fully functioning business continuity management (BCM) strategy.  This came into its own during the incident, and this case study details the attack and its repercussions, overviews the response and highlights the lessons learned.

Read the the full article, courtesy of The Business Continuity Journal.  Click here to download (pdf format, 7pages, 349kb).

 

On the 10th of March 2008 the results of the 2008 Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Business Continuity Survey, which has been supported by Cabinet Office (CCS) was published.  Although the report shows a situation where organisations are taking steps to improve their business continuity arrangements, for example in relation to the impact of an influenza pandemic and supply chain resilience, it also shows that there is much more to be done.

There are many risks that can affect an organisation's ability to continue their day to day business, and these can affect organisations of all sizes, across all sectors, both directly and indirectly. This was highlighted most recently with the floods of 2007 as evidenced by the findings of this survey that found up to 33 per cent of respondents in the affected areas were significantly disrupted. However despite this evidence, too many organisations still do not have effective business continuity arrangements in place.

The need for more resilient business continuity arrangements also came out strongly in the interim findings of the Sir Michael Pitt review of the lessons learned from the 2007 floods.

By following the recommendations contained in this document and by drawing on the help and advice set out at the back of the report, you will be making a first step to mitigate the impact an incident will have on your organisation. This is not only good news for your organisation but for national resilience as a whole.

Click here to download the report (pdf format, 20 pages, 429kb)