The unprecedented speed and rate at which business and investment in South Africa has grown during the past decade attracts not only opportunity, wealth creation and improved social services, but as a consequence, also heralds the heightening of risk across all areas of business and organisations in both public and private sectors. Such growth brings with it the need for skilled and experienced managers and operational practitioners of risk management and its associated disciplines, says Dr David J Smith, Chairman of the IBCM.
Within this context: "The Board should ensure that the company (organisation) survives and thrives." (King III 2.1.4) Some would say this statement is self-evident, but experience usually suggests that the quest for ever growing profit or company goals is frequently at the expense of one or more key functions. We say this in recognition that all business is based on taking risks. We firmly believe this applies equally to the public sector as well as the private. This is based on the recognition that the public sector supplies services; many being a part of the national critical infrastructure.
The complexity of running a company or part of the public sector at either ministerial or departmental or at local level has also grown during the period of successful expansion. As a result, the knowledge, skills and experience of all individuals from top to the bottom of an organisation have needed to have a full understanding of and keep pace with a whole host of issues, not least within the risk arena, hence the growth of enterprise risk management (ERM).
To meet this demand and manage many such issues at both a macro and micro level has, of necessity, required the creation and development of professional institutes together with the adoption of national and global legislation, regulations and standards such as ISO 31000, ISO 22301, ISO27001 and King III.
King III is of particular interest as it defines BCM, and together with IT governance, are both seen as key elements within organisational resilience based on business continuity management (BCM) and IT disaster recovery (ITDR). This highlights key issues for internal auditors and governance, especially organisations and listed companies. Within this context BCM represents a complex discipline that encompasses the vast array of business and organisation disciplines that are usually depicted by the 'BCM umbrella'. The use of Porters Value Chain is always a good model to understand what is involved and can be linked to the BCM life cycle.
As the editor of the BCM good practice guidelines and acknowledged key contributor to the British Standard Institute standard on BCM plus other country standards, Dr Smith, IBCM Chair, together with IBCM Advisory Board members, is a believer that in addition to a recognised standard there is the absolute need for skills competence certification standards for business continuity practitioners at differing levels.
Until January 2012, there were three business continuity institutes in the world. While each claims global membership, they are predominantly focused on their own geographical location and origin, eg, USA, Asia and the UK/Europe. To professional business continuity practitioners in South Africa, this highlighted a vacuum based on a need to interpret BCM in an African context.
As a result, the Institute of Business Continuity Management (IBCM) was incorporated as a not-for-profit organisation in South Africa in January 2012. The institute was founded by BCM managers and practitioners who are keen to indicate that it is 'Proudly South African', albeit its current membership is drawn from throughout the Africa continent and the Middle East. An example of its recognition and growth is illustrated by the number of BCM professionals and individuals from associated disciplines that have connected with its LinkedIn group. In excess of 1 100+ plus its discussion group are drawn from all business and public sectors across the globe, although the majority are from Africa and the Middle East. This illustrates the level of recognition and commitment of individuals.
The role of the IBCM is to be the independent and recognised institute for the professional development of all practitioners and associated disciplines engaged in business continuity and its management throughout the African continent and Middle East via the promotion of the highest standards of professional competence, capability and commercial ethics.
Membership of the institute is open to all business continuity practitioners and managers and people in associated disciplines at all levels of experience and capability, including those who wish to better understand BCM or enter it as a profession. Within this context there are different grades of membership to reflect individual requirements and the different levels of experience and capability.
As an alternative route to membership, all persons that are currently fully paid-up members of other professional institutes automatically qualify for the equivalent grade membership of the IBCM without the need for any formal application process based on proof of their current status.
The institute's Professional Certification Programme provides a structure and benchmark leading to an internationally recognised certification scheme; all IBCM professional members have undergone a rigorous admissions process to ensure that they are highly competent in their areas of expertise. The IBCM Certification Standards for Business Continuity professionals are based on six areas of competency that outline an individual's business continuity abilities, knowledge, skills, experience and expertise. The six areas of competency are based on the Business Continuity Life Cycle model of BS 25999-1 (BCM Code of Practice) and BS 25999-2 (BCM Specification) and ISO 22301.
The benefits of membership include recognition of an individual's status as a professional business continuity practitioner or manager or specialist in an associated discipline. It is illustrative of an individual's professionalism and a clear statement of an individual's professional competence and capabilities against internationally recognised skills profile and experience.
Increasingly, and within this context, employers consider certificated membership of a professional institute as a prerequisite requirement to gain employment within the BCM arena or as a part of continual professional development (CPD) or engaging with consultants. As a result the professional certification emphasises and makes a clear statement to employers and prospective purchasers of services especially in the tendering for services. The requirement for organisational resilience has become a key requirement of the tendering process especially in the supply chain where JIT (just in time) processes are employed. This of necessity requires professional business continuity practitioners.
Any company or organisation of whatever size may apply to join the institute as a corporate member. Corporate membership of the institute provides a vehicle for organisations and industry to join with others to innovate, develop and deliver good practice for the future of business continuity and its management. In particular, corporate membership provides information and details of resources that are available to help and assist IBCM corporate members in both the public and private sector.
The publication of the institute's first paper: "Organisation Resilience: Business Continuity, Incident and Crisis Management" has met with considerable acclaim and heralds the provision of a series of papers, including the provision of a BCM self-assessment review of an organisation in its next publication. The original paper was published in three parts, but it can be found on the ITWeb IBCM Newsroom in its entirety and is available to everybody interested in the BCM practice.
The pending publication of the institute's individual 'BCM Skills Competency Self-Assessment' forms a part of the institute's mentoring programme. IBCM and its board take the mentoring programme seriously and wish that more BCM practitioners were taking part in it. In addition the skills competency assessment can also be used as a part of an annual staff/performance appraisal; continuous professional development (CPD); training needs analysis; a role/job description et al.
As a leading provider of training the IBCM Professional Skills and Development Academy's training programmes are accredited by a leading university and are based on international business continuity standards and recognised good practice. The courses lead to recognised qualifications and are in high demand by commerce, industry and the public sector. In particular, the executive and practitioner programmes not only offer continuous professional development, but qualifications and skills that are needed to start out on a business continuity career path or develop and enhance a current situation. This is enhanced by the institute's mentoring programme.
Conclusion: As a risk-based discipline, business continuity and its management has matured from its early disaster and IT recovery background. It has its own standards, industry regulation and legislation and plays a key role in enterprise risk management and corporate governance. In particular, it is recognised that it can provide business opportunity and advantage over competitors. Within the public sector it is a must to ensure delivery of service at all levels from central, regional and local government as historical events have clearly identified that no organisation can be in total control of its environment or operations.
If you would like more information about the institute, or joining as a member at either an individual or corporate level, please contact us on:
Web site at www.ibcm-sa.org; or
E-mail us at info@bcm-sa.org; or
Write to PO Box 786213, Sandton 2146, RSA; or
Fax us at 086-653-2912.
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