library

Thank you taking the time to complete this research, please do register with us so that you can get the final report.

We are always looking for examples and case study material. If you know of ANY please do let us know and we'll do the rest ... thanks ! You can find out more about the Continuity Forum, our work and the great value membership options by contacting us directly through this Website, by phone (020 8993 1599) or by email (info@continuityforum.org)

Thank you The Continuity Forum Team

If you would like to know more about the Continuity Forums work helping organisations develop resilience and continuity please contact us directly. 

For more details on our events, workshops and industry development work, as well as the general activities of the Continuity Forum please contact us directly on +44 208 993 1599 or mail us HERE!.

If you would like to know more about how your organisation can get involved and benefit from working with the Continuity Forum, please email us HERE! or call on + 44 (0) 208 993 1599. 

Most organisations would fail to protect their staff against a flu pandemic because of a lack of forward planning, research suggests.

Category Business Continuity Management - BCM - CMI CF Annual Research

Small businesses still not planning and Weather and people based events rise

19 March 2007 Many UK organisations admit they are failing to prepare for disruption, despite recording a dramatic increase in the level of upheaval caused by extreme weather conditions and high levels of people and skills loss. According to research, published today by the Chartered Management Institute, organisations are 'blowing hot and cold' when it comes to business continuity they pay lip service to the importance of planning for disaster, but fail to make business resilience a reality.

Barriers to business The 2007 Business Continuity Management Survey, supported by the Cabinet Office and Continuity Forum, reveals that 1 in 4 organisations (28 per cent) were affected by extreme weather conditions in the 12 months to January 2007, an increase from less than 1 in 10, the previous year. The worst affected areas were Wales, where 21 per cent reported significant disruption, closely followed by Scotland and the South East (both 18 per cent). 1 in 5 managers (20 per cent) also said their organisations productivity had suffered due to a 'loss of skills' over the past year. 17 per cent blamed health and safety incidents for business disruption (up from 13 per cent, last year) and 32 per cent focused on the impact caused by 'loss of people', the highest proportion since the question was first asked, in 2003.

Looking ahead Managers identified traditional areas as most likely to impact on future costs and revenue. IT was cited by 73 per cent, followed by loss of telecommunications (63 per cent) and loss of access to sites (60 per cent). However, reflecting concerns expressed in the recent Leitch Review of Skills, managers highlighted increasing levels of concern over 'loss of people' (57 per cent) and skills (up to 59, from 49 per cent, last year). Jo Causon, director, marketing and corporate affairs, at the Chartered Management Institute, says: “Protecting an organisations infrastructure is, of course, vital to its sustainability. However, technology is nothing without the people who can use it and unless organisations balance the need to safeguard buildings with the need to secure their workforce, any attempt at business continuity management will remain unfinished and inadequate."

Lack of preparation The research, conducted amongst 1,257 public and private sector managers, also uncovered an alarming level of complacency amongst UK employers. Although the majority (73 per cent) believe business continuity is viewed as important by their senior management team, the number whose organisations have a business continuity plan (BCP) covering critical areas is much lower (48 per cent). Amongst medium- and small-sized organisations levels of preparation are lower still (42 and 34 per cent, respectively). Even where BCPs exist, many organisations fail to balance levels of protection with what they perceive are key threats to business. For example, only 35 per cent of BCPs focus on reputation, even though almost half (49 per cent) perceive 'damage to brand' as a major threat. Encouragingly, half of those respondents with a BCP report that they rehearse plans at least once a year. More than 1 in 3 (37 per cent) do nothing with the plans that have been developed and 15 per cent fail to act on the shortcomings they identify. Bruce Mann, director of Civil Contingencies at the Cabinet Office, says: “The report reveals a situation where there is still much work to be done. Events from the Carlisle floods to the London bombings and Buncefield explosion have clearly shown the vast range of impacts that emergencies can have. Yet despite these, there are still too many organisations with insufficient business continuity plans in place."

Coping with disaster In the context of these fears and the continued threat of a flu pandemic, managers were asked if their employer had plans in place to cater for excessive staff loss, due to illness. Encouragingly, 54 per cent of organisations have plans in place for a flu pandemic, but organisations are still failing to fully consider the impact of additional parent-worker absences - a factor demonstrated recently when almost 1,000 schools were forced to close because of snow*. The research found that 67 per cent of respondents suggest that increased levels of absences would result from school childcare closures during a pandemic, but only 19 per cent suggest their organisations plan is sufficient to cope. The research also makes it clear that organisations are failing to make adequate provision for immediate business continuity. Despite many fearing the impact of loss of access to their site, only half (53 per cent) said their organisation is ready for remote working "to a great extent"even though nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) have access to alternative work sites. 61 per cent also report that their organisations outsource facilities or services, but only 22 per cent demand business continuity management (BCM) from all business critical suppliers. Where BCPs are sought, almost half (48 per cent) admit they are satisfied with a statement from the supplier, one-third (34 per cent) will examine the BCP, but only 17 per cent are involved in the development of supplier BCPs. John Sharp, policy and development director at the Continuity Forum, says: “Successful business continuity planning is a two-way process. Organisations need to demonstrate their commitment to BCM to key stakeholders internally and externally, but at the same time should encourage suppliers to do the same. Failure to do so will lead to major business disruption as inadequate plans are exposed at the time they are needed most." 

UK Flooding shows need for increased BCM planning

Businesses in northern and central England have deployed their business continuity plans after sustained heavy rainfall flooded offices and left IT centres inaccessible throughout the region.

Insurers estimate that the cost to repair physical damage across the country will run to £1bn. Among the organisations affected by the floods were steel company Sheffield Forgemasters and Sheffield Chamber of Commerce.

Keith Tilley, managing director at disaster recovery firm SunGard Availability Services, said, "This is the biggest multiple-company incident we have had after the 7 June London bombings in 2005 and the Buncefield oil depot fire in 2006." Staff at Sheffield Chamber of Commerce had to be winched to safety by an RAF helicopter on Monday evening.

Director Stephen Mitchell, who was among those rescued, said that although the chamber's systems were backed up regularly and long-term damage would be minimal, it had been difficult to help businesses with the crisis because the chamber's own IT system had not been working. Parts of the e-mail system also had to be replaced at a cost of up to £3,000.

Law firm Irwin Mitchell relocated staff after the floods caused £1m in damage to its Sheffield offices. Richard Hodkinson, group IT and operations director, said that staff working at the offsite SunGard disaster recovery centre managed to keep services to clients running despite power disruptions. "People worked well into the night, determined to get resolution to these problems. It brought the best out for the IT team and pulled them together," Hodkinson said.

EWS Railway's datacentre south-east of Doncaster was also hit by the flooding. CIO Guy Mason said, "Work on essential projects and strategy has stopped, despite not losing systems. It is still a real cost." The experience has brought the IT department and the users closer together, he said. "I have never seen them talking together more than this week." David Fletcher, a director at investment company Creative Sheffield, said, "Smaller companies may not survive this, but larger companies will mostly pull through because they usually have the financial resources."

The floods had shown that business continuity is essential for every business, no matter what size or type. END

If you would like to know more about how your organisation can get involved and benefit from working with the Continuity Forum, please call on + 44 (0) 208 993 1599.

Small firms struggle in flood aftermath

Update The current estimate for the Summer Flooding Bill now exceeds £5 Billion, insurers are now processing over 11,000 claims from businesses for the disruption and damage caused.

A farmer watches his crop rot in the fields. A pizza and kebab seller wonders when his shop can open again. A builders' merchant is still clearing skip after skip of debris from his premises. These are just three of the businesses affected by the devastating floods that swept through thousands of homes and offices last week. Teams of loss adjusters are now sweeping through South Yorkshire and the Hull area, totting up the bills for the insurance industry. New figures released on Friday by the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters suggest that claims relating to the floods will total more than £1.5bn - £825m for domestic claims, £680m for businesses. (see update note - Estimates now exceed £5 billion)
The Chartered Institute says virtually all properties where there is a claim have now been visited by its members, and the rest should have had a visit by the beginning of next week.
 

Category Business Continuity Management - BCM - BS25999 - press release

Standards deliver framework for growth

Increasing numbers of organisations in the UK recognise the need for BCM. This may be driven by customers, regulators, statutory requirements or even a desire to improve organisational governance.

However what the senior managers of these organisations lack is guidance of how BCM should be implemented. 50% of managers responding to the annual Chartered Management Institutes BCM survey, carried out in association with Continuity Forum, made this their highest requirement.

2007 Business Continuity Salary Survey

This years Salary Survey has been the biggest ever with nearly 1400 respondents and covers a key period of industry development as increased focus on Standards, Regulation and Legislation issues gathers speed.

The recent availability of the first part of the new British Standard, BS25999 appears to be adding value and profile to BC skills more generally in the market and the impact on the Civil Contingencies Act on Public Sector organisations and Category Two responders building the profile and importance of Business Continuity Management. With these developments interest in BCM is firmly on the management agenda and we believe that we are starting to see the skills required in Business Continuity Management recognised as key to the organisation, and consequently there has been a marked uplift in the value associated with them from employers.

Boardroom interest in BCM increases on Wall St as new regulation pressure builds

Business continuity planning (BCP) once again is the 800-pound gorilla in Wall Street boardrooms. And as vendors deploy a swathe of new products to ensure that companies can function and continue to close deals in the midst of any crisis, the financial industry is witnessing a growing trend toward the virtualization of trading platforms and other services.

Planning for catastrophes has been at the forefront of companies' priorities since 9/11, "but by 2003, companies realized just how expensive implementation of a BCP strategy could be, and started trying to cut costs," says Alex Tabb, a partner at Boston-based TABB Group who covers crisis and continuity services. "It's a cyclical trend. Firms spend more, then cut back."

Survey shows Business disruptions due to power failure have increased more than 350 percent in just a year

Business continuity specialist SunGard Availability Services said an analysis of customer call-outs revealed that power failures had risen dramatically, accounting for 26 percent of disruptions last year. In 2005 the figure was just 7 percent.

The relatively high proportion of power failures in 2006 compared with the year before may be due to the fact that in 2005, more than a third of business disruption incidents (36 percent) were attributed to terrorism, with bombings in London happening in July that year.

While the web has reduced from days to minutes the time in which a corporate reputation can be attacked on a global scale, companies trying to protect their brands must also face the fact that the public remains cynical about the motives of organisations in both state and private sectors.

Taking Decisions about Evacuation during a Chemical Incident

From a Business Continuity or Emergency Planning perspective is it better to evacuate people in the vicinity of a serious chemical fire or should they remain where they are?

A study* comparing the health outcomes in sheltered and evacuated populations after a chemical fire suggests that there are health advantages in people sheltering rather than evacuating. The study is published in the BMJ and was based on a real incident in 1999. It involved collaboration between public health staff at a local health authority and national health experts (now at Bristol University and the Health Protection Agency).

Half of IT managers employed by large-sized companies believe it would be relatively easy to gain the core passwords for their computer systems.
That is the warning of a survey by IT security firm Cyber-Ark. It said that 10% of firms never changed their central administrative passwords.

A further 5% did not even bother altering the manufacturer's default password that came with the system.

A recent Survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit says "Most businesses are very concerned about business continuity, but two-thirds lack a reliable plan to ensure their business can survive the worst."