I came across an interesting post on Ireland’s Security Watch blog making the topical connection between bird flu scares and business continuity planning. It rightly points out that a disaster can strike from unlikely sources when you least expect it.
BCP is a very topical subject generally, given the recent introduction of the BS25999 standard. This finally provides a way for organisations to PROVE that they have a robust plan in place to ensure that their business can withstand adverse events. With our increasingly global and interdependent supply chains, more and more organisations are coming under pressure to reassure their major customers and business partners that they are a safe bet.
To help organisations get to grips with the new Standard and the competitive advantage that being certificated represents, we have just published several new books:
* We have brought out a second edition of Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity, a quick guide for small organisations and busy executives. This is based on last year’s successful book but updated to reflect the particular requirements of the new BS25999 Standard.
* For people needing a quick introductory overview of business continuity management we have launched a new BS25999 Pocket Guide. This sets out all the key facts and is a great tool for organisations that are implementing, or set to implement, a business continuity plan and management system. If you need to share practical knowledge between many project team members this is also a very cost effective way of doing it.
* Lastly, to support the take-up of the new Standard we have launched Business Continuity and BS25999: A Combined Glossary. No previous glossary has adequately addressed the full range of terms likely to be useful to a business continuity practitioner. In this book, we have drawn not only from BS25999 but also a wide range of related standards and frameworks, including ITIL and ISO27001, to create a standardised set of terms that should enable professionals to conduct global conversations based on a shared understanding.
