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In-house BCM curtails costs

Regina Pazvakavambwa
By Regina Pazvakavambwa, ITWeb portals journalist.
Johannesburg, 20 Aug 2014

Business continuity management (BCM) has moved from being an IT problem to a business requirement and, as such, an organisations needs to make decisions on the best way to implement it.

This is according to Chantel Coetzer, group business continuity manager at Investec, when presenting at ITWeb Business Resilience 2014 Summit at Montecasino yesterday.

Organisations that have a business continuity capability are far more likely to be more resilient in time of a crisis or major incident than those that don't, Coetzer warned.

However, she noted that there are decisions that need to be made when addressing business continuity requirements; such as whether a business outsource the task or do it in-house.

In order to make a decision, the managers need to look at the risk that they want to mitigate or whether they want to invest in longstanding, embedded process, or implement a quick job.

If the decision is for an embedded process, then they need to look more to in-house because it becomes an extension of normal operations - ensuring that processes are maintained and not turned to a project, said Coetzer.

Although Coetzer believes there are advantages to outsourcing, for example each project is completed within a set time frame and budget and maintenance is the responsibility of the service provider, she believes that organisations should do it themselves.

She pointed out that with in-house; there is long-term cost effectiveness. Although it is initially expensive, in the long run the cost benefits are realised.

Companies that do it themselves will ensure risk management is central to their business mission and values.

Also, if business continuity requirements are kept in-house, it keeps BCM on the organisation's agenda and this helps with continual improvements as well as making it a priority.

"Doing it yourself does not mean it is easy. There should be team work, singularity cannot achieve success. Also, you need to understand the business priorities and ask for help when needed," said Coetzer.

According to Coertzer, most businesses that keep BCM in-house became inflexible and follow what's on paper. He points out that situations change and to be successful, business need to embrace change.

In conclusion, she advised that as business look to implement business continuity, they need to be realistic in what they want to achieve with the resources they have.

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