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The Critical Importance of Business Continuity

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‘Why businesses cannot afford to ignore Business Continuity Planning if they are

serious about ensuring their survival’

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I am a retired UK police officer with a 30 years police service and

extensive experience and expertise in law enforcement and policing in

various roles. I have operated at local, national and international levels.

I am a skilled and accomplished professional, with a flair for innovation

and continuous improvement, an eye for detail and always a focus on

delivering the best possible product or outcome, on budget and on time.

My key skills include (but are not limited to): operational planning; major

and critical (crisis) incident management, command and control;

organisational change and learning; training development and delivery

and business continuity management.

With my background, qualifications and interests, I have a strongly held

personal belief that, above all else, organisational and community

resilience – the ability of a community to resist and bounce back from

disaster - is of the utmost importance to society. As a consequence, I

have established Total Resilience Ltd in order to effect widespread

change in this regard.

Total Resilience Ltd is a not-for-profit social enterprise with a focus on

the delivery of cost effective Business Continuity and Crisis

Management solutions to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), the

not-for-profit sector and wider community, both in the UK and

internationally.

Mark Taylor MSc CBCI

Contact Details

Phone: +44(0)1794 513053

Mobile: +44(0)7964 262805

Email:

mark.taylor@totalresilience.org.uk

LinkedIn ID: www.linkedin.com/in/markpaultaylor

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Surveys conducted by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and British

Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) clearly demonstrate the critical importance of

effective Business Continuity Planning (BCP) in protecting businesses from

substantial financial loss, or even failure, in the event of a business disruption or

crisis.

These surveys identify the fact that too many businesses are putting, not only

themselves, but the future of their employees at risk by failing to plan for potential

serious disruptions to business. Examples are many and varied but include extreme

weather events such as the flooding and snow experienced in recent years, fires,

and failures of IT.

The national significance that is now placed on effective organisational BCM is

strongly indicated in the fact that the lack of BCM arrangements by SME’s even

features in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (CMI. 2013, p.5).

Given also, that the second highest driver for introducing BCM measures (after

Corporate Governance) is the direct experience of an emergency, it is perhaps

surprising that more companies do not seek to close the BCM stable door before the

‘disruption’ horse bolts, causing a costly and potentially disastrous disruption.

This brief guide seeks to distil key information from a number of highly professional

sources and encapsulate the essence of what Business Continuity Management

(BCM) is; its critical importance to any business or organisation, regardless of size;

and the identification of nine key benefits arising from effective Business Continuity

Planning.

Introduction

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The core purpose of effective BCM by an organisation or business is to enable the

continued delivery of key products and services whilst effectively coping with a

disruption or crisis.

Good planning and preparation may mean that in many cases, potential threats are

identified quickly and eradicated before they can become a problem. However, there

are a whole range of threats and hazards out there with the potential to disrupt your

business or organisation. For those that cannot be prevented, or are beyond your

control, effective planning and preparation will enable you to mitigate and minimise

their impact when they occur.

In order to do this effectively, there needs to be a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) that

identifies those key products/services crucial to your business and critical timescales

for business resumption; the development of a plan to ensure business resumption

within the critical timescales; the appropriate training of key staff on how to activate

the plan and respond effectively to incidents; the testing and exercising of your plans;

the review of incidents and ‘near misses’ in order to identify any lessons to be learnt

and incorporated into good business practice, thereby driving effective and

meaningful organisational learning.

What is Business Continuity Management?

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The incorporation of effective BCM measures by businesses and organisations into

their wider management systems and processes is essential if they are serious about

protecting ‘their people, assets, reputation and ultimately the bottom line (CMI, 2013,

p. 5).

The British Insurers Brokers Association (BIBA) commissioned research which

identified that millions of UK SME’s and their employees are unprotected in the event

of a business disruption or crisis (http://bit.ly/1pGe8KU).

The most common types of emergency or disruption identified by the insurance

industry are flooding/escaped water (41%) and fire (33%) (‘The Value of Business

Continuity Planning’, BIBA Research (2011)).

Government data indicates that nearly one in five businesses experience a major

disruption each year. Of these, 80% affected by a major incident will close within 18

months whilst 90% of businesses losing their data will close within two years

(http://bit.ly/1pGe8KU).

It is not necessarily the initial impact of the disaster itself that does the damage. It is

the period of time that it takes for a business to get itself effectively back up and

running again post disaster. Where, due to a lack of BCP, this is prolonged, it will

mean the end of many SME’s, and with it, the years of effort invested and the jobs of

employees (http://bit.ly/1pGe8KU).

Why is Business Continuity Management

Important?

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The introduction and maintenance of effective BCM measures will reduce the impact

of a disaster on a business, enable it to recover more quickly and thereby ensure its

survival.

As has clearly been demonstrated, the case for the introduction of effective BCM into

any business is absolutely compelling and makes extremely good business sense.

However, it is a key protective process that is not being commonly adopted by small-

and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s). This is most probably due to limitations on

the availability of staff, time and resources to devote to BCP.

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Whilst suitable Business Interruption Insurance cover is an essential part of an

effective BCM System, it should be regarded as a complement to, not a substitute for

BCP. BCP measures will enhance a company’s ability to function effectively by

continuing to deliver its key products and services throughout a disruption and as a

consequence, will assist in protecting what its insurance policy cannot. Namely:

Business reputation.

Any delay in settling the insurance claim.

Any shortfall resulting from any excess, underinsurance or the occurrence

of an uninsured event.

(Sterling et al, 2012, p. 29-30)

Furthermore, the existence of a robust BCP is likely to improve the terms and/or

discount the premiums on Business Interruption Insurance cover. Where the risk is

identified as unacceptable, a BCP may transform it into one that insurers will write

(‘The Value of Business Continuity Planning’, BIBA Research (2011)).

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What about Business Interruption

Insurance Cover?

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Businesses with effective BCM arrangements in place enhance their ability to:

1. Reduce the risk and impact of a disruption or crisis:

87% of managers believe that their organisation’s BCM arrangements

effectively reduced the impact of a disruption (CMI, 2013, p. 14).

2. Continue delivering key products and services despite a disruption or crisis:

83% of managers believe that following a disruption, their organisation’s BCM

arrangements enabled the continued delivery of key products and services

without interruption to customers (CMI, 2013, p. 14).

3. Recover more quickly from a disruption or crisis:

85% of managers believe that BCM arrangements assisted their organisation to

recover from a disruption more quickly than would otherwise have been the case

(CMI, 2013, p. 14).

4. Reduce their overheads in terms of insurance premiums and/or benefit from

a wider choice of insurer or insurance cover:

45.5% of respondents stated that ‘business interruption insurance would benefit

from improved terms or discounted premiums if a robust Business Continuity

Plan (BCP) was in place’ (BIBA Survey, 2011).

55.7% of respondents stated that ‘a premium discount is given if a BCP is in

place’ (BIBA Survey, 2011).

The Nine Key Benefits of Business

Continuity Management

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83.3% of responding insurers stated that ‘they would give a discount or improve

terms to a business interruption policy if a BCP was in place’ (BIBA, Survey

2011).

Another tangible benefit of a BCP is ‘turning what would probably be an

unacceptable risk into one which insurers would write’ (BIBA Survey 2011)

5. Enhance their reputation as a consequence of their increased organisational

resilience and reliability:

74% of organisations believe BCM helps protect organisational reputation (CMI,

2013, p. 13)

6. Secure new and retain existing customers and contracts as a consequence

of their increased organisational resilience and reliability:

72% of managers believe BCM meets customer requirements (CMI, 2013, p.

13).

7. Take advantage of opportunities presented to them when less prepared

businesses are either disrupted or unable to effectively respond to an unfolding

situation or business opportunity:

34% of organisations believe BCM increased competitive advantage (CMI,

2013, p. 13).

8. Derive cost benefits from the introduction of BCM into a business

organisation:

81% of managers believed that the cost of developing BCM arrangements is

justified by the benefit it brings to the organisation (CMI, 2013, p. 14).

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9. Reduce the impact of an incident upon employees: 80% of managers believed

it assisted in coping with the immediate effects of an incident on employees (CMI,

2013, p. 14).

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Our focus is to work with any businesses and organisations that wish to improve their

organisational resilience and are seeking support and advice to develop effective

business continuity and crisis management solutions.

Total Resilience guarantee a first class, cost effective service to you and your

organisation regarding all of our areas of service delivery and will work closely with

you and your team to:

► Establish a clear understanding of your business, its current level of resilience and

what is necessary to enable it to continue to operate effectively during a disruption or

crisis.

► Deliver cost effective plans and recommendations that reduce the likelihood and

potential consequences of a disruption/crisis and thereby protect your assets.

► Provide whatever support we can before, during and after an incident in order to

optimise the resilience of your business or organisation.

The level of support offered will be determined by the client, but where appropriate,

can progress to BSI certification in ISO: 22301 Business Continuity Management

Systems.

Total Resilience Ltd

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If you are at all concerned about your business’s current level of BCM protection

and resilience,

Or

You would like to explore the potential benefits that effective BCM can bring to

your business

Please email/contact us today for a free, initial, no obligation

exploratory consultation.

Email: enquiries@totalresilience.org.uk Telephone: +44(0) 1794 513053

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Next Steps?

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References:

Sterling, S., et al. (2012) Business Continuity for Dummies, Padstow: John Wiley &

Sons Ltd

Musgrave, B., and Woodman, P. (2013) ‘Weathering the Storm’ - The 2013

Business Continuity Management Survey, (CMI - Chartered Management Institute),

‘The Value of Business Continuity Planning’, BIBA Research (2011)

‘Small Businesses Fail to Plan for the Unexpected’ - http://bit.ly/1pGe8KU

Bibliography:

Bird, L. (Ed). (2013) The Business Continuity Institute Good Practice Guidelines

2013, Global Edition, The Business Continuity Institute

Websites:

British Insurance Brokers Association: www.biba.org.uk

Chartered Management Institute: www.managers.org.uk

Information Sources