April 9, 2008
These NewsBriefs are produced and delivered weekly by
Attainium to keep our friends and clients
current on topics relating to Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery and Crisis Management.
Business continuity and disaster recovery plans are critical components of an organization's operations.
Why, then, is it often so difficult to get the organization to commit the funds necessary to create, test,
and keep these plans updated? Senior management buy-in is a necessary ingredient… as is getting everyone
on board. This week's articles offer some helpful advice on how to make the business case for business continuity.
To win support for a business continuity plan, emphasize ways it can give your company a competitive edge.
(Item #1)
In the absence of an event or other external mandate, how do you keep management engaged and willing
to continuously invest in organizational preparedness?
(Item #2)
What is key to getting senior staff permission when you don't have the resources to do all the ground work?
(Item #3)
How do I convince CFOs/financial director to loosen the purse-strings and spend budget on BCM?
(Item #4)
This article identifies best practices on how to involve your organization in business continuity planning.
(Item #5)
Do you need to convince your CEO of the importance of remote backups?
(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
"Leaders need to be willing to start with the question,
'What needs to be done?'"
- Peter Drucker -
Articles
1. Five Ways to Build a Business Case for Business Continuity
The importance of business continuity planning is a no-brainer--if you're a security leader
who already thinks in terms of security and risk, that is. But convincing business executives,
who typically think in dollars and cents, of such a plan's criticality may be a tougher sell.
While the fundamental importance of business continuity is fairly obvious, the reason to spend
lots of money on it may not be. This article offers some tips on making your case.
http://www.csoonline.com/article/221615
2. Overcoming preparedness fatigue
All organizations eventually face the prospect of preparedness fatigue in their organization.
In the absence of a crisis affecting the organization, even a competitor or a large-scale disaster
that wakes the organization's leadership team to the reality of business continuity preparedness,
management attention often wanes and begins to focus on other competing, pressing matters.
http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0561.htm
3. Early Selling for Business Continuity Planning
Everyone agrees, upper management commitment is key to DRP/Business Continuity program success.
However, no one tells you how to generate those first critical attention-getting conversations to get
that support and preliminary funding. It takes resources to build a proposal, yet in these days
of increasingly limited corporate funds, you have to convince someone senior that there is an exposure
before you can get the resources.
http://www.infratechgrp.com.au/sellbcp.htm
4. Selling business continuity to finance directors
Although the profile of business continuity has never been higher, a common problem encountered
by many business continuity managers is the difficulty of getting budget allocated to spend
on business continuity. Convincing financial directors that business continuity management
will directly benefit them may be the most direct and successful way of getting budget allocated.
http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0246.htm
5. How to Involve the Business to Create a Solid Continuity Plan
Members of the CIO Executive Council participated in a June 2005 conference call
on business-continuity planning. The article contains some best practices from members
who have made such planning an integral part of their organizations.
http://www.cio.com/article/12576/How_to_Involve_the_Business_to_Create_a_Solid_Continuity_Plan
6. Remote backup: Making the business case to your CEO
Remote backup of data, applications and operating systems is becoming more important for companies
of all sizes as they struggle to cope with a growing number of remote workers and a mountain of compliance
and legal mandates. It is also becoming more important as companies realize that a tape backup plan
is not enough to provide business continuity in the event of a disaster.
http://searchcio.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid182_gci1243609,00.html#
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