Johannesburg, 05 Aug 2015
What is the value of business continuity? That is a question those working in the profession often grapple with, certainly when attempting to justify its existence to top management. In the latest edition of the Business Continuity Institute's Working Paper Series, Dr Clifford Ferguson explores the issue of strategic value and offers a way forward by integrating business continuity into an organisation's strategic plan.
This is timely given the growing interest in resilience as a quality that allows organisations to increase their adaptive capacity to sudden shocks or long-term, incremental changes. With his work revisiting some of the models featured in existing literature, Dr Ferguson makes the case for articulating the strategic value of BC and its relationship to resilience.
This paper is also relevant given its focus on the public sector. The 2015 BCI Horizon Scan report revealed BC funding cuts in 30% of public sector organisations sampled worldwide. These budget cuts present clear pressures for BC practitioners in the public sector to demonstrate value for money while maintaining standards of delivery.
Dr Ferguson concludes that business continuity should be both a cost saver and a strategic risk reduction tool. It cannot be independent from the corporate strategy and it should be embedded into the organisational value system. A business continuity culture will have a direct influence on the services the state offers its citizens and will give rise to a reduction of reputational risk. The continuity culture may be the best driver of continuous service delivery improvement.
To download your free copy of 'the strategic value of business continuity (BC): Integrating BC into an organisation's strategic plan' click here.
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