Business Continuity is a comprehensive process that helps identify potential threats and their impact on the normal course of business. This process enables a company to prepare in advance and determine a course of action to ensure the most efficient management of the company in cases of significant incidents or disasters.
Today, almost all market players strive to automate business processes as much as possible and to reduce the human impact on their implementation. On the one hand, this is a positive aspiration. However, on the other hand – given the increasing number and complexity of cyberattacks – automation becomes the most vulnerable element of the company, which can significantly halt or paralyze its activities.
The research indicates that less than 30% of the rated companies allocate financial resources to the development and implementation of business continuity management processes. The low level of companies’ interest in allocating a separate process and investing in its development may be caused by difficulties in understanding technical processes. Plus the rather high cost of IT products, which will ensure the implementation of an automated business continuity process for the company.
One of the basic international standards for business continuity management is ISO 22301, whose main objective is to guide a company in finding an effective approach to minimizing the consequences caused by the risks and threats to which it is exposed.
According to ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management is a comprehensive management process, which identifies potential threats to the company and their impact on the functioning of business processes, and defines the basis for an effective system capable of containing and counteracting such threats.
The business continuity management process itself is very simple schematically. However, it contains many elements and key issues that must be taken into account when developing a continuity system for a particular company.