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Why Should You Prioritize Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning
With IT systems and technological platforms swiftly becoming the backbone of most organizations, cybersecurity has become a top priority for many of them. According to EY Global Capital Confidence Barometer*, the greatest fear related to cybersecurity is operational disruptions. These disruptions can cause major financial damage in the short term leading to downstream business or end customers losing confidence in the company as a reliable business partner, further causing reputational damage, in the long term.
An organization must employ appropriate measures to safeguard itself from eventualities, while striking a balance between business continuity efforts and operations. That’s where the need for Business Continuity Management comes.
BCM is said to be the cornerstone of any cybersecurity effort as the lack of a BCM framework can cause small incidents to snowball into major events that can threaten the survival of an organization of any size.
Organizations must build and maintain an extensive BCM framework and should be aware of its significance. Based on the impact on unavailability, each essential vital service and process should be identified by the framework. Customers should also create their business continuity strategies and arrangements in accordance with this.
Organizations who have achieved BCM-ISO 22301 certification and adhere to industry best practices should annually examine their readiness for Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and Disaster Recovery (DR). The results of their BCP/DRP drills will then be included in the review to determine whether the organization was successful in restoring vital services to the BCP and DR sites in accordance with the Recovery Time and Point Objectives (RTO/RPO) set forth by each business unit.
As part of the assessment or review, organizations must take the following factors into account:
- A thorough audit of the organization’s BCM objectives and a review of the Business Impact Analysis
- Validation of the plan and strategies for business continuity risk management
- Verification of BCM documentation for compliance with ISO standards and terminology
The major goal of the BCP testing and maintenance processes is to make it easier to test and maintain the BCP so that it can:
- Ensure that staff members are aware of their roles and duties in the event that the BCP is invoked
- Determine whether process recovery is consistent with each recovery time objective.
- Update the relevant BCP documents to address any gaps found during the test, raise awareness of BCPs, and make sure all BCP documents are current and always accessible to relevant stakeholders.
- Test the BC readiness of the backup location and backup IT infrastructure.
Intertec’s Business Continuity Management solution includes everything from a thorough gap analysis, business impact analysis, risk identification, risk management, to process, policies, procedure formulation of ISO 22301 controls and clauses. As a top infrastructure solutions provider in UAE, Intertec provides consultancy services powered by extensive experience in ISO implementations along with access to technical resources/consultants who can help with the deployment of business continuity management and controls.
Intertec’s capabilities are poised to make a profound impact on our customers’ business outcomes. With a clear focus on knowledge enhancement, expert technical support, and synergy-driven business continuity, we are committed to being your trusted partner in success.
* Global Capital Confidence Barometer: M&A – response or resilience, EYGM Limited, 2019