What are the key indicators of business continuity maturity and capability?

Policy and governance are the cornerstones of a successful business continuity program, however they must be closely aligned with the needs and culture of the organization. No two are alike and BCP needs and capabilities will vary greatly.

the policy should include clear roles and responsibilities to ensure accountability and a streamlined response during a disruption. Engaging top management and securing their commitment is critical for driving the policy's implementation and integration into the organization's daily operations. The policy should also incorporate lessons learned from past incidents and incorporate best practices to enhance resilience continually. Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics can help in measuring the policy's success and identifying areas for improvement.

Business Continuity Planning (BCP) comprises solely of documents that demonstrate the existence of a plan. It entails preparations on how to effectively mitigate potential events that could result in significant losses for the company.

While covering all necessary topics in the policy is essential, it's just as important to keep it short and concise. This ensures that top management and stakeholders are more likely to read and understand what they've approved. One effective way to achieve this is by outlining the WHAT in the policy itself, and referring to other documents for the HOW. This approach keeps the policy focused and manageable while still covering all the specifics in detail elsewhere.

Identifying and prioritizing business functions performed across the organization is an essential component of a BIA, which should include business owners/SMEs that are responsible for the work to continue in the event of a business disruption. Once prioritized, top priority functions should be aligned with support resources needed for them to perform which includes identification of human, facility, technology, vendor, and equipment requirements. All of this information can be leveraged to develop business continuity, technology recovery, and other risk related plans. All mentioned, are part of the business continuity management lifecycle, which can be used to measure program maturity. As each phase is completed, maturity increases.

Tests and exercises should be conducted across all operational, tactical, and strategic levels to ensure a cohesive and effective response. As your Business Continuity Management matures, these tests and exercises can become more complex, reflecting the increased resilience of your organisation. They’re also an excellent way to raise awareness and build sensitivity towards the importance of continuity and preparedness throughout the company!

In my experience, key indicators of business continuity maturity include regular updates to the BCP, ensuring it aligns with evolving risks and business objectives. A well-defined governance framework, with clear roles and responsibilities, demonstrates capability. Effective training programs and periodic testing ensure preparedness and continuous improvement. Additionally, metrics like recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO) provide measurable benchmarks. Feedback loops from testing and real incidents highlight gaps, driving a cycle of refinement and enhanced resilience.

The ISO 22301 standard provides a framework for your organization to build, validate and continuously improve your business continuity management system (BCMS).

The first check to check the maturity of your Business Continuity is to check whether you are doing what you said you would be doing! Then check how well you are doing that. e.g. You said you would have a BC Policy - you have it and pass the first check. Then, if this policy is written, reviewed, approved, current, relevant - then you pass the second check as well. Similar checks need to be done for all other artifacts also. e.g. how many tests did you plan? how many were conducted? how many were conducted as scheduled? how many improvements were noted? how many have been closed? how many are pending for how long and for what reasons. few! Keep going like this.

To me the key indicator of business continuity maturity is how much the organisation has embraced the topic. Is it treated as tick box - we have a policy, we have BIAs, we have BCPs - or is business continuity part of the culture. Do people feel that they can highlight risks and resilience gaps and come up with solutions? Do leadership teams discuss resilience with regularity. Maturity of process is easy to achieve but organisational maturity with respect to business continuity is the more challenging but more rewarding and valuable concept.

Rather than guessing, I'd recommend doing a proper Business Continuity Program maturity assessment. An assessment will help your organization quantify the state of the program in comparison to established best practices, rather than relying on inference or anecdotal evidence. With that metric in place, you can target program areas that need specific attention and track improvement over time.