BIC Business Continuity: The business side

A business impact analysis is performed to identify all critical business processes that must be maintained in the case of disruption. All critical information about each individual process, as well as its respective process chains and dependencies to resources, must be documented. A damage analysis is then conducted to determine at which point the failure of a business process will have reached the company’s tolerance limit. The information in the business impact analysis is used to derive the maximum tolerated downtime for this process and, subsequently, provide further recovery parameters such as the maximum tolerated data loss and recovery time.

The insights gained from the business impact analysis and risk analysis lay the foundation for continuity strategies. Each risk that has been identified and accessed must now be accepted, transferred, avoided or reduced – decisions, which shape the continuity strategy for protecting critical business processes.

The previous steps merge into drafts for concrete contingency plans for possible crises or disruptions. Detailed steps, procedures and responsibilities are clearly documented and made available to employees.

Sensibility and awareness exercises that help prepare employees for emergencies or times of crisis are important instruments in business continuity and can be categorized as contingency measures in the BCM. Contingency exercises also provide an opportunity for detecting potential non-conformities, which are then documented in the risk2value BCM solution as findings and addressed accordingly. Interested parties can view the BCM objectives and guidelines, safeguarded from revisions, directly in the system. The efficacy of the implemented measures and plans are monitored, managed, updated and optimized in an ongoing cycle.