What the SS540 Business Continuity Standard is Designed to Do
Is a population of around five million people enough to justify bringing out a separate business continuity standard for that country? After all, with other internationally applied standards already available, such as BS 25999 and now ISO 22301, making your own version might be described as reinventing the wheel. However, when that country is Singapore […]
Business Continuity Plans for Mergers and Acquisitions
Business continuity plans are not only to be used when uncontrollable or unpredictable events beset an enterprise. They also have a role to play in events that, so to speak, firms bring upon themselves. Mergers and acquisitions are good examples. Such events are deliberately induced, unlike fires, floods or IT systems breakdowns. However, that still […]
Linking ISO 22301 to Related Management System Standards
To paraphrase John Donne, no standard is an island. Users implementing systems according to ISO 22301, the standard for business continuity management within the context of societal security, can gain from linking their work to that done on other standards as well. While the standard takes an all-hazards approach and applies equally to both private […]
Keep CALM and Share My Business Continuity With Me
As supply chains increasingly integrate suppliers, it’s time to extend business continuity in the same way. In simple situations involving individual consumers and providers, this is already happening. Customers who buy new cars today often rely on the dealer to also provide their “car continuity” because the systems in the car require specialist equipment for […]
Divergent Attitudes to Business Continuity Regulation and Recommendation
Should business continuity planning be a legal requirement? Should it be an option left to the discretion of an organisation? A school forced to close for a day because a heating pipe burst and flooded the ground floor is an inconvenience. An online shop that loses its e-commerce site for a day may be a […]
Physicians, Heal Thy Business Continuity Thyself
Like the cobbler’s children who are the least well shod, it seems that organisations whose whole business is in emergencies are not necessarily well-prepared for business continuity. In particular, hospitals have come under scrutiny in recent years because of an apparent lack of integration of risk management practices. Approaches have sometimes stopped short of the […]