It is clear that we are living in an ever-changing environment, shaped by numerous potential threats such as floods, cyber-attacks, IT breakdowns, supply chain issues or loss of skilled staff. These possible threats have the potential to impact any organization. If not addressed effectively, these threats can cause disruptions or even business failure. In today’s world, it is not a matter of when or if disaster is going to strike, but how well you are prepared to ensure your stakeholders that you are in control when it does.
Consistent planning for what to do in case of disruptions ensures a more effective response and a quicker recovery. Therefore, aligning business continuity with resilience management is key for your business’ survival during these trying times.
Organizations should have business continuity management systems in place. Business continuity management is a holistic process that identifies potential threats to an organization and identifies the impact to business operations that those threats might cause. The goal of business continuity management is to provide an organization with the ability to effectively respond to threats and protect the business interests of the organization. It enables organizations to be equipped with the ability to prevent, respond to and recover from various operational disruptions in the future. In order to be flexible, organizations need to be able to break down silos and develop agile teams across the various functions.
Organizations should also invest in operational resilience. A resilient organization is not an organization that simply returns to how it was before the crisis. Instead, a resilient organization is one that has transformed to not only being able to recover, but also to catapult forward quickly during and after a crisis. Operational resilience is the ability to deliver critical operations in the face of disruption. It allows organizations to absorb internal and external shocks, ensuring the continuity of critical operations by protecting key processes and resources such as systems, data, people and property. Keep in mind that resilience is not a goal or destination, it is a way of being. The current global pandemic has shown that operational resilience easily comes under pressure and that organizations should be ready to limit, respond to, recover and learn from a wide variety of events.
Business continuity and resilience should be implemented in a multidisciplinary way and positioned strategically within your organization. Active involvement of the board is crucial to integrating continuity and resilience into business and risk strategies. Considering the perspective from various management positions within your organization will ensure that business continuity and resilience is based on the different corporate objectives and that it is implemented in line with your strategy, the customer experience, as well as financial and IT perspectives and requirements.
Focusing on business continuity can make your organization more ‘incident proof’. By building business resilience, you not only gain the capacity to survive, adapt and thrive, but you also gain another view on your organization and its critical processes and systems. The COVID-19 crisis has shown us what disaster can lead to. Let’s make sure you don’t miss an opportunity for positive change that this crisis represents. Discover these topics in depth and how you can address them in our webinar on business continuity and resilience.
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Continuity & Resilience Webinar
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