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According to a recent ISM study of CFOs, in the past three years 62 percent of enterprises with more than $5 billion in revenue encountered a major risk event. When a major risk event did occur (such as strategic, operational or geopolitical), 42 percent of these enterprises were not well prepared for the event. Information in this week's articles can help keep you repeating their mistake.

This BC/DR primer can help make sure your plans cover everything you need. (Item #1) Don't focus your BCP efforts only on response. Why have a disaster if you don't have to? (Item #2) Business continuity plans truly work only if they take employee needs into account. (Item #3)

Do you know the risks of ignoring a "worst-case scenario" in your planning? (Item #4) Do you have sufficient personnel insurance in place to cover a large loss of employee life? (Item #5) In most regulated industries legislation requires companies to adopt a Risk Management and a Business Continuity Management approach. (Item #6)

As always, we look forward to hearing about your concerns with regards to business continuity. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered, please email me at [email protected]

Best Regards,

Bob Mellinger
President
Attainium Corp

Quote of the Week

"The most serious failure of leadership is the failure to foresee."
- Robert Greenleaf -

Articles

1. The ABCs of Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning
These days, the list of potentially business-disrupting events seems almost endless: viruses, power blackouts, natural disasters and even terrorist events. Good business continuity plans will keep your company up and running -- this primer helps make sure you've covered all the necessary bases.
http://www.csoonline.com/fundamentals/abc_continuity.html

2. Business continuity - are we still missing the point?
While the typical focus of business continuity today is arguably on recovery activities, there is much to be gained from the pro-active side of continuity - providing the unbroken operation in a way that is fit for purpose. Maybe the time has now come for attention to be paid to this much neglected area of business continuity.
http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0531.htm

3. Write People into the Plot
This article provides tips from companies with lessons to impart on ensuring employees are as well taken care of as IT systems or other business assets.
http://www.csoonline.com/read/070105/write.html

4. Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, and the Worst-Case Scenario
In recent history, catastrophic disasters have highlighted the need for business continuity and disaster recovery planning. From terrorist attacks to large-scale natural disasters, the stakes are extremely high. The truth is that if your business doesn't have a realistic business continuity and/or disaster recovery plan, it might never recover in the event of a real disaster. There are two keys to surviving the impact of an interruption. First, how do you ensure the continuity of business operations? And second, how do you protect your data and systems, and recover them in the event of loss?
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=768381&seqNum=1

5. How much is a business continuity plan worth?
A good Business Continuity Plan reduces the probability of failure due to many events. Let's assume that it reduces the probability of failure from 5% to 4%; this could mean millions in company value.
http://www.riskythinking.com/articles/article26.php
BCP Value Calculator:
http://www.riskythinking.com/tools/bcpvalue.php

6. Personnel insurances related to business continuity planning
Large companies can be exposed if they lose many employees in the one disaster, such as the World Trade Center, or a small organization can even go out of business if a key person is incapacitated for a lengthy period or dies.
http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0515.htm