Sooner or later, your organisation will suffer a data security breach. This may sound like the opinion of a fatalist. However, CIOs and CSOs increasingly accept that such a breach is inevitable. Read more
Which was the last terrible software application you used? And have you noticed how easy to use many government websites have become? – at least, in countries like Australia, the UK, and the US. In both cases, user experience is often at the heart of what makes such utilisation a pleasure or a pain. Software that doesn’t show you the right options at the right time, or that makes you jump through cyber hoops to get what you want, is often software that ends up on the shelf (also known as “shelfware”). Conversely, interfaces that are clear, simple and productive can make many processes including paying your taxes almost pleasurable. There is a key lesson in this for business continuity managers. Read more
As a competent, business continuity manager, does it make sense for you to consider bringing in external resources in business continuity consulting? The short answer is “maybe”. There are circumstances where external consultants can add significant value, without undermining your good standing as an employee. In fact, correctly selected and used, such consultants can even make you look even better! As with other decisions about using service providers, it comes down to knowing what your organization needs and checking that the provider in question can supply to meet those needs. Read more
Is business continuity or an organisation without a leader even thinkable? Given all the business literature devoted to leadership, the idea might seem bizarre. Whether we’re talking about authoritarian, inspirational, relational, visionary or any other kind of leader, we generally expect to see a “big boss” at the top of the organisational tree. Business continuity would appear to be a similar case. Somebody needs to drive the thinking, planning and management to ensure that an enterprise does not suffer business interruption. So would it surprise you to know that organisations with high performance and continuity can – in fact, sometimes should – run without leaders? Examples of completely leaderless organisations that work well and run without breakdown can be found in a variety of different professional sectors. Morning Star is one example: this $700 million enterprise processes tomato products, has no bosses and authorises employees to spend company money and Read more
For many enterprises, the supply chain has become the centre of the universe. More important than cool branding, funky product features or any other individual aspect, success is determined by how well an enterprise manages to supply its market with the right product in the right place at the right time and at the right cost. Everything revolves around getting the supply chain right. Complexity means challenges for business continuity, especially as doing better in one area may penalise performance in another. However, business continuity must hold up overall. Some top performers have shown how two aspects in particular can make the difference. Read more
Smart business continuity managers, like other smart people, know that shamelessly applying good ideas to meet objectives is an efficient way of moving forwards, whether the good idea was theirs in the first place or somebody else’s. With this in mind, here are some interesting ideas from a discussion on the challenges of effective cybersecurity, which could equally well apply to the propagation of business continuity. Read more
Ostriches are known for burying their heads in the sand, when danger approaches. Shut out the signs and the stimuli, and you shut out the danger, or so ostrich logic goes. Business continuity ostriches take a similar approach. The signs they fear are the comparisons between their BC planning and management, and those of other organisations. In part one of this blog post, we looked at ways of measuring business continuity performance internally. Now in part two, it’s time to look at how external measures might reveal some truths that are hard to swallow, but that must be heeded. Paradoxically, that shouldn’t pose too much of a problem for ostriches, known for their propensity to swallow all manner of objects… Read more
As the old saying goes, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. For business continuity to get the senior management attention it deserves, hard data on your BC program progress could be a good idea. But of course, there is still the question of what to measure. And then the question of what the measurements really mean. Is your BC score good, bad or indifferent – compared to what your organisation needs? Compared to other companies? Compared to what? The first step is often to crack open a business continuity standard to get an initial reading (even if it’s “yes or no”) about whether you are doing things properly. But avid BC metricians will go further. Read more
Outsourcing and third party suppliers were highly fashionable a few years ago. Now the enthusiasm is somewhat tempered by a number of realisations. Increased risk and in some cases outright failure have incited enterprises to take a closer look at third party impacts on business continuity. Recent figures from auditing and consulting company Deloitte in the UK state that 87% of organisations surveyed have suffered business disruption due to third parties, whether from loss of data, failure to deliver on time, or other causes. Confidence in managing third party risk was low to moderate for over 94%, yet over 73% thought third parties would be critical to their business in the coming year. So how big are the risks and what are the solutions? Read more
When natural dangers and disasters are few and far between in your own country, it may come as a surprise to know how high the levels of risk are in other parts of the world. When natural catastrophes come with the territory, the only solution is to be able to rebound from them. Some nations are better equipped to do this than others. From a business perspective, there is also a correlation between lower cost providers and less resilience. In other words, if you are selecting foreign suppliers on the basis of lower prices, it pays to check the exposure of the supplier’s country to hazards that could hinder the supplier’s capability to provide goods or services. Read more