Using BS 25999 to reduce risk and lower compliance costs

27th February 2009 by Raz Chaudary

A recent research report, comprising of  interviews conducted by IBM, with over 1200 chief financial officers from 79 countries, concluded the following points:

 

 

1.       Significant enterprises are not well prepared to handle the impact of a major risk event to their organisation;

 

2.       In the past three years, 62% of enterprises with over $5 billion in revenue encountered a major risk event.

 

3.       In the realisation of a major risk event (such as strategic, operational or geopolitical) 42% of these enterprises were not well prepared for the event.

 

 

Drivers for BCM

 

·         The first major driver for globalisation was the free flow of trade goods, and progress continues as new trade agreements are brokered between nations, and internationally, at each round of talks at the World Trade Organisation.

 

·         The second driver was the free flow of capital, and today vast sums move between financial markets, and barriers to international investment and foreign ownership of firms are much reduced.

 

·         The Internet has also played a part, enabling the free flow of information globally, although some nations, Canute-like, still seek to deny the inevitability of this particular rising tide.

 

·         Finally, today we are struggling to come to terms with the globalisation of labour markets and the free ‘flow’ of labour, either in terms of people moving across national borders to find work or the work moving to where there is a lower cost supply of skilled workers.  The International Monetary Fund estimates that the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the opening of India and China (together with population growth in these areas) have delivered a fourfold increase in global labour supply in the last 2 5 years!  – a powerful force for globalisation indeed.

 

 

Business benefits can flow from BS 25999

 

Organisations may realise benefits from adopting BS 25999 in a number of different ways:

 

·         Potential competitive advantage through demonstrated ability to continue product or service delivery;

 

·         Reduction of risk to revenue flows;

 

·         Reduction of costs associated with recovery from unplanned business interruptions;

 

·        Better positioned to require BS 2 599 certification of critical suppliers and consequent cost savings and risk reduction in supply chain continuity assurance;

 

·         Reduction in business continuity compliance costs associated with a fragmented response to regulatory and legislative requirements;

 

·         Performance improvements and cost savings identified and realised as an indirect consequence of implementing an effective business continuity management system;

 

Implementing an effective business continuity management system can assist in strengthening organisational reslience.

 

If you would like any further information about implementing or certifying your organisation for business continuity, please contact  raz.chaudary@lrqa.com

 

Leave a comment