Business continuity news

Business Continuity planning for small businesses in a pandemic

11th May 2009

This article on WTOL 11 provides great tools for small businesses to use to be able to keep ahead of the possible effects of the current pandemic

A Global Business Continuity Plan for Recovery and Reform

16th Apr 2009

The communiqué also seeks to establish and promote greater collaboration between nations to “guard against risk” and “discourage excessive risk-taking” by strengthening regulatory systems and supervision.

LRQA Gains Global Accreditation to BS 25999 Business Continuity Standard

20th Mar 2009 by Alex Briggs

Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) has been awarded global accreditation to certify organisations against BS 25999, the business continuity management systems standard. In addition to UK clients such as LINK Associates and BT, LRQA has now certified their first client outside of the UK to BS 25999. Based on that work, LRQA are now accredited to deliver BS 25999 certification globally.

exposure to economic risks increasing

9th Feb 2009

One of the main conclusions from the report suggests that the disaster impact could have been reduced through resilient building design and the deployment of an early warning system complemented with good community preparedness.

$1bn fraud…shakes business & consumer confidence

20th Jan 2009

There is a business continuity issue here as well. So, that benefit is bound to occur to the other IT companies which customers have high confidence in terms of the integrity of the management. The company had exaggerated its cash reserves by some $1bn (£661m)”.

Risk Management Critical to Protect Supply Chains

13th Jan 2009

According to a recent article, David Simchi-Levi, a professor of engineering systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, suggests that there are several broad strategies shippers can take, including greater flexibility, redundancy, risk pooling and strong network planning.

How do you manage your business through a fuel crisis?

5th Dec 2008

This UK Cabinet Office guidance document written by the department of Energy and Climate Change is intended to assist organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors in planning for and managing the consequences of a disruption to fuel supplies.

What’s the link between a pandemic, energy, and the global just-in-time supply chain?

25th Nov 2008

According to a report by the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP), a scenario is outlined where a pandemic disrupts the supply chain for coal, providing electricity and a critical element to support public health and organizational continuity.

The report suggests the next pandemic is likely to impact the global just-in time economy and will seriously compromise the public health response. The unavailability of skilled manpower will be unable to meet the surge of demand and ultimately restrict international and domestic travel/trade agreements.

Business Continuity Tool: Delivering Upon your Stakeholder Promises

25th Nov 2008

ASIS International (ASIS) have developed a business continuity checklist as a tool to allow organizations to consider the factors and steps necessary to prepare for a crisis (disaster or emergency). It is designed to assess an organisation’s resilience to manage and survive the crisis and take all appropriate actions to maintain critical operational viability.

The checklist has applicability in both the private and public sector environments. and can assist in creating, testing, and maintaining an organization-wide plan for use in the event of a crisis that threatens the viability and continuity of the organization.

Enhancing your organisation today while safeguarding it for tomorrow

17th Nov 2008

The current economic climate and business environment makes business continuity a critical issue. Ensuring the preparedness of an organisation can strengthen its long-term viability, reputation, and financial success.

Some key facts:

85% of US businessses are within the private sector and include transportation, banking, and utilities.
Businesses vulnerable to natural disasters, computer viruses/cyber attacks, terrorist attacks, and viral pandemics.
For example, if the Internet stopped, U.S. retailers could lose $450 million a day in e-commerce.1 If an influenza outbreak occurred, New York state’s losses alone are estimated to be $49 billion.

(source: “Dealing With Disasters At Home and Far Away” by Zosia Bielski, National Post, June 21, 2008).

Certification journey – five easy steps

Step 1:
Certification starts with an assessment of the company’s existing crisis management, business continuity, disaster recovery, and emergency response plans.
Step 2:
A gap analysis is performed against a chosen standard, and will assess the organisional responses to overcome a range of disaster scenarios.
Step 3:
Identify key actions, assign responsibilities, and establish timings to address the identified gaps.
Step 4:
The organisation is now ready for formal certification once the process has been established.
Step 5:
The organisation can select the appropriate level of certification appropriate to its needs.
Three levels of certification levels

First-party certification: an internal self assessment and self declaration of certification.
Second-party certification:r eview by one with whom there is an arm’s length relationship, such as a customer, supplier, or parent organization.
Third-party certification: review by an • accredited third-party certifier. This is the most independent and objective form of certification.
Benefits of certification

Potential benefits of becoming “certification ready” include:

improve operational efficiency,
reduce liabilities,
boost stakeholder confidence.

BusinessAssurance.com