[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We know you know, but to save you the mental effort of fleshing these acronyms out into full-length descriptions, here’s what they stand for. BCM is business continuity management. ITSCM is IT service continuity management. And BIA is business impact analysis.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”2985″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” image_hovers=”false” lazy_loading=”true”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]These three items are linked together by the need to keep organizations operational in adverse circumstances. You probably got that immediately.
But they are also linked by the need to trim expenses down to only what is necessary, a connection that is sometimes rather less obvious. Here’s how it works.
Let’s start with BCM. This is the overall management of continuity for the business, meaning the organization as a whole. As much of business is driven by IT, IT service continuity management is typically a major component of BCM.
However, whereas BCM may automatically look for proactive measures to keep an enterprise working, such proactivity may not always make business sense at the IT level. Take the example of expensive failover solutions to keep an ecommerce system available at all times.
They will be of no use if the disaster triggering the failover has also prevented the enterprise from making or shipping goods to satisfy online orders.
BIA can help avoid unnecessary proactive expenditure. Of course, In the example above, the ecommerce system might break down all by itself, in which case urgent remediation might be needed or adequate proactive measures to circumvent such breakdown.
Choices here of course depend on the impact to the business. In general, the longer a business can wait before recovering an IT resource after breakdown, the less it must spend on preventing disaster in the first place. As many disasters have a low probability of happening, then low impacts mean opportunities to save money.
By considering BCM, ITSCM, and BIA together, organizations can balance prevention expenditure with business impact, and make sure that continuity measures are only being funded when they are of real benefit to the business.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]