A new report by the Business Continuity Institute, supported by certification body NQA, has shown that six out of 10 organisations adopt ISO 22301, the international standard for business continuity management.
Organisations with strong top management commitment to standardising business continuity practice are four times more likely to adopt ISO 22301 than those that do not.
There are many reasons why an organisation would want to embrace ISO 22301; most notably, it provides assurance of continued service, with 61% of respondents identifying this as a significant reason.
By certifying to the standard, organisations can provide reassurance to their stakeholders that, in the event of a crisis, it will still be able to function.
Other reasons include:
* Reputation and brand management (48%);
* Reduced risk of business interruption (48%);
* Greater resilience against disruption (45%); and
* Quicker recovery from interruption (44%).
There are, of course, barriers that prevent such commitment and those identified were resource constraints (25%), complexity of implementation (19%) and top management buy-in (18%). It is perhaps encouraging that these barriers each had relatively low percentages, suggesting the barriers aren't that widespread.
If reassurance is one of the primary reasons to commit to the standard then one can only wonder why many organisations don't expect the same of their suppliers, as supply chains can only be as strong as their weakest link. It could be considered alarming that 82% of respondents stated their organisation does not seek certification to the standard from their suppliers.
Deborah Higgins MBCI, Head of Learning an Development at the Business Continuity Institute, commented: "It is encouraging that uptake is beginning to increase as organisations recognise the value investing in an effective business continuity programme; however, there is still a lot of work to be done, most notably when it comes to persuading other organisations within the supply chain to also adopt ISO 22301."
Kevan Parker, Head of NQA, stated: "ISO 22301 provides an excellent framework for building organisational resilience, and the benefits of adoption are becoming increasingly recognised. This is very positive, but as highlighted, a supply chain is only as strong as the weakest link; it is a responsibility of those with ISO 22301 certification to lead their peers towards adoption and elevate organisational resilience to total supply chain resilience."
To download your copy of the report, click here.
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