Business Continuity Management

I had recently attended a session on Business Continuity Management. It has given me a lot of food for thought and raised several questions.

Food for thought:

1. Business continuity is much more than a set of Policies, Procedures, Testing. It is a living and breathing concept. Just like your customer, who need to be engaged 24*7, business continuity management need to be engaged 24*7.
2. BCM used to be a temporary solution for a temporary period. However, Covid-19 tested it severely. Once we come out of this, BCM concept will undergo a change towards sustainability. (e.g. one big plant vs several small plants, one centralised office vs multiple small offices, JIT inventory vs large inventory)
3. BCM need to be integrated into the business model of the organisation. e.g. loss of internet connectivity should not mean that customer will be returned empty handed. your POS need to work offline also, should be able to connect with central server and update the records once internet connectivity resumes.
4. Just like ERM, BCM is everyone responsibility. When two minds work, they give exponential effect. (1+1>2)
5. Several organisations may not have structured documented BCP, but they were able to run the operations in the absence of BCP as well.
6. Companies in emerging economies does not spend money on business continuity vis a vis companies in developed economies. At the same time, Indian companies were able to manage their operations (at least those who can) better than their western counterparts thanks to “Jugad” concept.

Let me give me an example:

Enabling Work Form Home for several organisations:

• Lack of enough Laptop were substituted with allowing people to take their desktop to their home and giving them “Wi-Fi usb adapters”. The only investment was cost of “Wi-Fi usb adapters”.
• Access to Corporate Email, Corporate Accounting System and couple of application was enough to move workforce to “Work from home environment”, where possible through VPN.

(If a company is working in an industry where they are working for PII or Financial information or other regulated industry, due to inherent nature of industry, company would already have VPN, DLP, Laptops, etc.)

There are two reference for anyone who is interested in connection between BCM and ERM

THE INTERSECTION OF BCM AND ERM

BCM vs ERM: The Reasons for the ‘Separation’ and the Business Case for the Integration

Call for action:

Inputs/ comments/ suggestion: I welcome inputs/ comments / suggestions from readers on how to approach this issue. Feel free to correct me, educate me.

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(Disclaimer: The views expressed constitute the opinion of the author and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of the author ’s employers, supervisors, nor do they represent the view of organizations, businesses or institutions the author is, or has been a part of.)