Failproof your business: Business Continuity Management BS 25999
Continued operations in the event of a disruption, whether due to a major disaster or a minor incident, are fundamental requirements for any organisation. “In spite of sophisticated technologies in operating businesses, 80% of businesses fail to survive a disaster. Many companies are still to grasp the importance of BCM. It is not only disaster recovery but business continuity in a wider perspective”, said Mr. Robin Pilcher, Global Marketing Director, BSI Management Systems, UK on launch of the BS 25999 Standard.
The visionary standard for business continuity management (BCM) was launched during a seminar on 14 April, 2008 organised jointly by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and BSI Management Systems in Delhi. A series of back to back seminars were also organized in Mumbai and Bangalore. Giving the keynote address in Delhi, Prof. Vinod Chandra Menon, Member, NDMA emphasized the importance of Business Continuity stating “the business of business is to stay in business”.
Elaborating on the factors that disrupt businesses, ranging from natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, pandemics, to changes in legislative and trade laws and political systems, Mr. Pilcher explained that it has become necessary for organizations to understand and assess these factors and develop disaster management plans to minimize the consequence of disasters.
Mr. P G Kakodkar, Former Chairman, SBI opened the Seminar in Mumbai by remarking, "Winds of change are the only constant, human beings and society have to adjust to these changes. In earlier decades, there were disruptions, but the problems have only increased. In order to keep business going during these circumstances, it is necessary to resort to Business Continuity Management". In his keynote address Mr. Kakodkar explained the significance of BS 25999 and said that the Standard establishes processes, principles and terminology of business continuity management. "Being an auditable standard, it addresses disaster recovery issues, disruptions and is accepted globally", he said.
"Crisis management and business continuity is learning from the past and moving forward. BCM comprises hazard planning v/s hazard specific plans, making business case for risk mitigation, and confluence of disciplines". These were the views echoed by Mr. Michael Berkowitz, Director, Corporate Security & Business Continuity Head -- India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in his brief presentation at the Seminar.
Mr. Venkataram Arabolu, Managing Director - BSI, India emphasised on a formal and structured approach to manage disruptions in globalised interconnected and interdependent economies. Explaining the relevance of BCM in India, Mr. Venkataram put forth that business continuity standards have given an opportunity for Indian businesses to leap-frog the learning curve with respect to management systems and practices.
"BCM is about prevention of disruption; in case of disruption to quickly detect loss and to salvage business", said Mr. C V Rao, CII in his welcome address at the seminar. Last year CII & BSI had signed an MOU to spearhead the quality movement in India.
IBM, Accenture, Satyam Computers and Citiglobal Services Limited also put up presentations at all the three events to show how organizations could implement a BCMS and overcome the challenges. Satyam also shared a short video that captured an elaborate exercise on BCP due to country outage and thus relocating critical project staff to a hot DR site in Singapore.
Delivering the keynote address at the Bangalore event, Mr. J.K.Sinha, Member NDMA expressed support to this standard and he said “by implementing the BCM to the requirements of BS 25999, the industry would help the national effort to be prepared for a large disaster and also augment the public efforts”.
BS 25999 Certificates were presented to Accenture and CitiGroup Global Services by Mr. Robin Pilcher. Accenture has the distinction to be Asia’s first BS 25999 certified organization as well as being the global first in the IT/ITES industry.
An interactive session towards the end of the seminar helped the participants to interpret the state of preparedness and identify the gaps in their existing disaster management activities and systems as well as the prerequisites of obtaining the BS 25999 certification.
18 April 2008
