Business continuity planning (BCP) is an important part of any company’s overall risk management and operational strategy. As such, it is important to assign responsibility and ensure that account relationship level BCP is in place. Account relationship level BCP is the process of identifying and documenting the relationships between business accounts, customers and suppliers. It defines the roles, responsibilities and expectations of each party in order to ensure the continuity of business activities. This blog post will explore who should be responsible for having account relationship level BCP in place and the importance of having it in place.
Account relationship level BCP is vital for any business as it helps to ensure that all parties involved in a business relationship understand their roles, responsibilities and expectations. It establishes clear communication and guidelines to ensure that specific objectives are met, while also providing a framework for resolving any disputes or disagreements. Furthermore, having account relationship level BCP in place can help reduce costs, as it can help to streamline processes and
Why is having a business continuity plan crucial for a company?
Getting started with the right approach to leadership
Many businesses designate a business continuity manager who is in charge of overseeing the planning and preparation procedure as well as carrying out the plan in the event of an incident. Putting together a suitable team and governance system is one of their main duties. The process must, above all, have full executive support and visibility throughout the entire organization.
Executive management and sponsors should attend regular meetings of business continuity managers to ensure that their strategy is current and in line with ongoing business procedures. To make sure that every employee is ready for any crisis, they will need to collaborate closely with the heads of other departments.
Focusing more on people and processes than just IT is the proper leadership strategy. Despite the fact that technology will inevitably play a significant role in it, business continuity leaders must have a thorough understanding of the business challenges and priorities in order to match them with the technological requirements and secure the required resources.
The Unexpected Benefits of a Good Business Continuity Program
Let’s first examine the “Why?” of business continuity planning by taking a step back. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that the unexpected CAN and DEFINITELY WILL happen, which is why you should have a business continuity program in place.
One of our clients shared a debrief of their experience and explained how having effective business continuity plans and programs was essential to their ability to respond.
Like many other plans, theirs focused on redistributing work geographically in the event of a potential regional disruption: “If interruptions are disrupted in Manila, we shift them to India.” Additionally, if things worsen significantly, we return it to our operations center in the U S. ”.
Geographical redistribution was not a practical solution when the pandemic struck because everyone had to deal with the same pandemic-related disruptions and restrictions.
Thankfully, despite the fact that their business continuity plan did not account for a worldwide disruption like the COVID-19 global pandemic, our client’s process of planning for and responding to earlier disruptions had given them the organizational skills they needed to quickly come up with and implement new solutions. Because of their prompt pandemic response, business continued as usual despite the disruption.
We learned from our own debriefing of the pandemic response that the clients who had the most developed business continuity plans were the most well-prepared. Not necessarily because they were able to use preexisting plans—nobody anticipated that the entire supply chain would shut down over night, for instance—but rather because their organization’s readiness allowed them to calmly and methodically build beyond the usual disruption.
They were able to swiftly respond to a complex situation and change course as a result, even if it didn’t exactly fit the prepared scenarios in their plan.
As the pandemic response demonstrated, the value of a good business continuity program goes far beyond responding to planned disasters and more pedestrian objectives, like aligning to ISO 22301 and other common BCP standards. A solid business continuity program forms the foundation of organizational resilience. That resilience is now paramount for businesses to thrive, let alone survive, in response to the unlikely disruptions of our new normal.
Business continuity planning (BCP) is the process of developing a strategy based on the identification of risks and threats to a company, with the goal of ensuring that people and property are safe and able to function in the event of an emergency. Business continuity planning (BCP) entails identifying potential risks, assessing their impact on operations, putting safeguards and procedures in place to lessen those risks, testing those procedures to make sure they work, and periodically reviewing the process to make sure it is still relevant. [1].
Benefits of Business Continuity Planning (BCP)[7] An organization that prioritizes BCP is actively investing in the future of the company as well as protecting its assets. Effective BCP improves the service offering, positions the company exceptionally well, and benefits the organization. Some key benefits of BCP:
Business Continuity Planning (BCP) – Governance Structure[6] A BCP includes a governance structure, which is frequently the form of a committee, to guarantee senior management commitments and specify senior management roles and responsibilities. The oversight, inception, planning, approval, testing, and audit of the BCP are all the responsibility of the BCP senior management committee. It also oversees the development of continuity plans, approves the BIA survey, implements the BCP, coordinates activities, reviews the outcomes of quality assurance activities, and implements the BCP. Senior managers or a BCP Committee would normally:
The Philosophy and Science of Business Continuity Planning[2] Organizations may find business continuity planning to be just as stressful as the disaster that forces them to put their plans into action. Disasters are not anyone’s idea of fun, unless we’re talking about Hollywood summer blockbusters. But maintaining core business functions, such as data centers and telecommunications, throughout and following unforeseen events is essential to the long-term health of the company. Business continuity planning can be difficult to discuss because management and IT staff often have very different perspectives on it. Senior management frequently sets the philosophy behind business continuity planning because they have the final say in how much time, money, and personnel are allocated to important projects. Less technical and more based on cost and public relations will likely be business leaders’ strategic priorities for disaster recovery solutions. They represent the company when something goes wrong, after all. On the other hand, IT staff will typically lean toward the scientific side of the equation, giving infrastructure investment priority. Although both of these points of view are legitimate, disagreement between the two parties may result. Expert in business continuity planning Geary Sikich suggests that separating the concepts of “risk” and “management” could help close this potential gap in risk management. The information you’re about to read may seem a little hazy at first, but bear with it.
FAQ
Who is responsible for business continuity?
A manager is in charge of monitoring the entire business continuity system. The amount of time needed for this position is largely determined by the organization’s size, complexity, and type of business operations.
Who is responsible to implement BCM in your organization?
Essentially, the Business Continuity Management Team and the Business Continuity Steering Committee are responsible for the implementation and ongoing day-to-day management of the Business Continuity project.
Who is responsible for all BCM related site level activities?
In this situation, top management must take the initiative in driving organizational BCM in order to enlist the assistance of every employee in achieving this goal (Low et al. 2008a). According to O’Hehir (1999) and Health (1999), the following are the main goals of creating and implementing a BCM in an organization:
Who is responsible for identifying customer specific BCP requirements?
The oversight, inception, planning, approval, testing, and audit of the BCP are all the responsibility of the BCP senior management committee. It also oversees the development of continuity plans, approves the BIA survey, implements the BCP, coordinates activities, reviews the outcomes of quality assurance activities, and implements the BCP.
