Business Continuity Management

Organizations are continuously challenged with managing redundancies, streamlining operations and exceeding customer expectations in a "business as usual" environment. Add to that the risk of a business interruption or crisis event, and the stakes become higher. Business Continuity Management (BCM) is the discipline of identifying those operational risks that could significantly affect an organization's performance and managing the likelihood and impact of an unplanned event.

Business interruptions caused by natural and man-made disasters are the focus of traditional BCM programs. However, in today's environment, there is an expanding breed of risk caused by product recalls / contamination / extortion, supply chain exposures, pandemic risk and executive level crises, which must be proactively managed.

More than ever before, organizations are sourcing key aspects of their business to third parties to manage continuity risk. Boards of Directors are looking to organizations to develop and implement programs designed to make the organization more resilient from risks rather than simply restore key operations as quickly as possible after an event has occurred.

Organizations that invest in BCM realize many benefits. Not only is the risk of a crisis heavily mitigated, but as companies identify opportunities to make their business more resilient, they find ways to improve everyday operational performance.