ISO 22301 - Business Continuity Management (BCM)

Continued  operations if any disruption occurs, whether due to a major disaster or  a minor incident, are an essential requirement for any given  organisation.

Business  Continuity Management (BCM) is about preparing an organization to deal  with disruptive incidents that might otherwise prevent it from achieving  its objectives.

ISO  22301 specifies requirements to plan, establish, implement,  operate, monitor, review, maintain and continually improve a documented  management system to protect against, reduce the likelihood of  occurrence, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive  incidents when they arise.

The  requirements specified in ISO 22301 are generic and intended to be  applicable to all organizations, or parts thereof, regardless of type,  size and nature of the organization. It is especially relevant to  organisations which operate in high-risk environments such as finance,  telecommunications, transport and the public sector, where the ability  to continue operating is most essential for the organisation itself and  its customers and stakeholders. The extent of application of these  requirements depends on the organization’s operating environment and  complexity.

The benefits are extensive and cover many organisational areas:

• It  provides a common framework, which is based on international good  practices in order to manage effectively business continuity.
• It  improves in a proactive manner the organisation’s resilience when it is  faced with disruptions to its ability to achieve its main objectives.
• It  provides a practised method of restoring an organisation’s ability to  deliver crucial products and/ or services to an agreed level and  timeframe following a disruption.
• It gives an established response in order to manage effectively a disruption.
• It facilitates the protection and enhancement of the organisation’s reputation and brand.
• It provides a competitive advantage by opening new markets and helping an organisation win new business.
• It  enables a clearer understanding of how the entire organisation works  and can assist in identifying opportunities for improvement.
• It shows that applicable laws and regulations are being observed.
• It  generates an opportunity to reduce costs due to internal and external  BCM audits and may also reduce business interruption insurance premiums.

Business  Continuity is sometimes confused with disaster recovery, but they are  separate entities. Disaster Recovery is a small subset of business  continuity. Disaster Recovery Plan should be oriented towards recovering  after a disaster whereas a Business Continuity Plan shows how to  continue doing business until recovery is accomplished.

The  term Business Continuity describes a mentality or methodology of  conducting day-to-day business, whereas Business Continuity Planning is  an activity of determining what that methodology should be. The Business  Continuity plan may be thought of as the incarnation of a methodology  that is followed by everyone in an organization on a daily basis to  ensure normal operations.

ABIUD  Solutions gives the opportunity to any kind/type of company to  implement Business Continuity Management System and get certified with  Accredited Certification Body for ISO 22301.