Although the term "resiliency" is widely used in setting corporate goals, it is rarely defined in a way in which it can be meaningfully assessed.
This is according to Lyndon Bird, technical director and board member of the Business Continuity Institute (BCI). Bird will be presenting an international keynote at the upcoming ITWeb Business Resilience 2014 conference, which will be held in Johannesburg in August.
"Traditionally, business continuity has provided a proven means of reducing the severity of disruptive interruptions by understanding the operational priorities of the business, the infrastructure that supports these, and the acceptable timescales for response and recovery.
"Business continuity practitioners have always argued that by taking a holistic approach to an organisation, critical dependencies and single points of failure can be better identified and mitigated, thus leading to improved reliability and customer satisfaction. This might seem a reasonable assumption but it is hard to really prove," says Bird.
He explains that this lack of objective proof has perhaps contributed to the often reported difficulties in achieving more substantial stakeholder buy-in for business continuity at the more senior levels in an organisation.
"Perhaps this partly explains why the change in business terminology from business continuity management to organisational resilience is happening so rapidly in many companies."
Bird adds that key individuals promoting the resilience agenda see this as a game changer; the opportunity to bring a new discipline into play at the strategic level. "Adaptability, rather than response, is becoming the new buzzword in business resilience circles and traditional business continuity practitioners need to adapt to this new reality," he concludes.
Bird will be among the subject matter experts at ITWeb's third annual business resilience event, which will advise delegates on how to ensure their companies can identify and withstand even the toughest continuity challenges.
Speakers will cover a wide range of topics, including an assessment of the top business continuity threats local organisations face; developing an effective resilience strategy and plan of action that covers the business; and understanding legal requirements and the role of corporate governance.
The ITWeb Business Resilience 2014 conference takes place at The Forum in Bryanston on 19 and 20 August. Click here to find out more and register for the event.
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