News

BSI are publishing today the revised BS standard 31100 Risk Management Code of Practice as a Draft for Public comment. 

Your assistance in reviewing the Code of Practice and providing feedback would be much appreciated. 

The UK government has published its revised National Security Strategy entitled “a strong Britain in an age of uncertainty" and within its pages are a number of interesting details that point towards an evolving future for Business Continuity.

The new strategy delivers the coalition governments view on the emerging and current threats to the UK. Closely linked to the recently announced spending review affecting the Armed Forces the national strategy document and other dimensions that are highly relevant to us all and positions the thinking on both risks and importantly responsibilities for them.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of attending yet one of the Continuity Forums debate sessions we think you might like to gain a flavour of what happens.

Normally at Business Continuity events, seminars or workshops most of speaking is conducted by the host, fairly reasonable really, but it gives you little chance to share your experiences or learn from those of others facing similar challenges. and there is always the chance that the presentations will devolve into sales pitches! 

Whilst we do our very best at our events to avoid this happening we also recognise that there is also a need to explore new topics or areas that are emerging and are relevant to the profession and with this in mind for the past couple of years we have been holding Continuity Forum Debates. These Debates have become very important to us as they allow and encourage considerable discussion to be held on a host of interesting topics engaging a range of diverse participants and as a result lots can be learned in a short time.  Some will be experienced in the area being debated bringing their expertise to bear, others will have more general knowledge. By bringing them together in a debate format our aim is to explore the topic in a new way hopefully distilling the key messages, benefits or aspects more clearly and bringing opportunities or challenges they present the industry into a sharper focus.

We have been really pleased at just how effectively these debates have worked and over the past few months we have covered topics as wide-ranging as Counterterrorism and business continuity, engaging effectively within organisations, the Olympics, workspace recovery, standards and most recently, Cloud Computing and how organisations are adapting to the opportunities and challenges.

One of the great things about our debates is that they are held under very strict Chatham House rules and this adds a lot freeing all those involved to discuss very openly their own situations and experiences. Ahead of the session the key questions to be debated our shared ahead of the session to help people prepare. On the day the group usually between eight and 16 meet for breakfast, lunch or dinner (depending on the subject and budget available!). The discussions are chaired, or should we say facilitated, by the Continuity Forum and from our own preparations we will have a general shape that we would like the debate follow, but our aim is always to ensure that we all learn as much as possible. If you judge the success by how long people want to stay, then every single one has been superb, with us often having to extend the debate time to allow the free-flowing conversation is to continue.

We will be holding more debates in the coming months with another on cloud computing and further sessions on both how the developing world of standards may impact and how we can improve security. If you have any ideas or suggestions for debates or if you would like to consider hosting a debate in conjunction with the Continuity Forum then please do get in touch. Debates can also be held in-house and have proved invaluable in developing BCM internally within organisations and creating effective teamwork.

If you would like to register your interest to attend a debate, just get in touch with us and we'll be happy to help. 

Business Continuity Forum Support guidance 25999 standards 

The US Commodity Future Trading Commission is proposing to introduce new regulations affecting Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery, based on an expected standard for Designated Contract Markets and the associated Derivative Clearing Organisations. The CFTC has recommended that rule changes be put in place requiring both DCM’s and DCO’s to harden measures that aim to prevent wide scale disruption to Commodity trading arising from an event. 

The latest Standard to the be released titled “AS/NZ5050 - Business Continuity Managing disruption-related risk” comes from Standards Australia and arrived just a few months before the US BCM Standard jointly developed by the BSI and ASIS . 

In an interesting departure from established convention the Australia/New Zealand Standard takes different slant on key aspects of the process and connects far more with with risk management principles than others. The Standard itself declares that “the approach (taken) to managing disruption-related risk described in the Standard is through application of AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009, Risk management—Principles and guidelines.”

Business Continuity Forum, Support, Advice, events and guidance 

Argos and Homebase could have been crippled following the collapse of Bemrosebooth, a key supplier of Print Services to the Home Retail Group (HRG), when they fell into administration.

HRG though had the foresight to have a plan and invoked their contract with specialist Print Support company Business Continuity.  While HRG seek alternate providers of this specialised service Business Continuity will be maintaining the service to Argos and Homebase customers with all their paperwork covering statements, letters and mailings amounting to hundreds of thousands of documents each week continuing to sent uninterrupted. 

How not to handle crisis communications

We hope you like this clip by Australian comedians John Clarke and Bryan Dawe which provides a humourous example of how not to handle the media.

Originally recorded over 10 years ago following a tanker incident this short video will hopefully make you laugh and more importantly, think!

If you would like to find out how it should be done get in touch!

For more details on our events, workshops and industry development work, as well as the general activities of the Continuity Forum please contact us directly on +44 208 993 1599 or mail us HERE!

If you would like to know more about how your organisation can get involved and benefit from working with the Continuity Forum, please email us HERE! or call on + 44 (0) 208 993 1599.

Business Continuity Forum research news

Marsh publish new 2010 research on European wide BCM attitudes and opinion.

Two years ago Marsh published its first in-house survey into Business Continuity attitudes, this year's update gives us considerable food for thought in how the industry is developing and where priorities should lie. 

Encouragingly many of the underlying attitudes to business continuity appear to be positive, although there is clear evidence of different countries and industries progressing at markedly different rates. In the most established markets BCM has clearly become a core topic generally aligning well with the goals and objectives of the organisation. Integration across the business has also been seen to improve.

Business Continuity forum 

Vodafone UK has recently been undergoing a thorough audit by the BSI as part of the retention process for its BS25999 certification for Business Continuity Management. The successful outcome demonstrates the capability of the Vodafone approach and in achieving recertification demonstrates to customers the added resilience of the services provided by Vodafone.

This is a point not lost on Vodafone's management. In their press statement they make reference to the clear responsibility they have as a telecommunications company to other organisations and particularly their  BCM plans. Peter Kelly, Enterprise Director Vodafone UK says “We know that mobile communications are an essential service for all businesses – retaining BS 25999 certification demonstrates that we continue to deliver the most reliable and highest quality network for our customers, no matter what.”

Business Continuity Forum

E.ON, the world’s largest investor-owned utility, recently celebrated the achievement of BS25999-2:2007 certification across all its UK business services locations. This follows nearly two years of preparation led by business continuity manager, Jag Gogna. This decision was preceded by a review in 2007 of business continuity and crisis management of over 50 locations and around 16,000 staff.

The challenge from the outset, he explains, was to secure support and buy-in from senior strategic and operational mangers from across all aspects of the company. Cultivating the required relationships and instilling the required confidence among staff is vital to a cooperative culture.

Business Continuity Forum

The Financial Reporting Council has released its updated corporate governance code which builds and clarifies the responsibility on Listed companies.

The new code applies from 29 June 2010 and applies to those with a Premium Listing regardless of whether they are incorporated in the UK or elsewhere.