Firms without continuity plans 'risk losing customers'

The emergence of the first British Standard for business continuity management (BS25999) meant that SMEs needed to "act swiftly" to ensure that they remained a viable part of the supply chain, according to ICM Business Continuity Services.

The firm's managing director, Mike Osborne, said: "With supply chain continuity one of the key concerns within the UK marketplace, business continuity professionals will be looking to propagate business continuity through their supply chain using the new standard as a benchmark.

"This means smaller organisations will soon be feeling pressure from their major clients to adopt and comply with it. Councils are already including the need for business continuity in their standard purchasing terms."

Mike likened the impact of BS25999 to the uptake in quality standards such as BS5750 and ISO9000.

"Here, SMEs began to be excluded from retaining or bidding for large contracts with corporate clients if they were without the ISO quality standard," he explained.

Er... what plan?

According to a new study published today, fewer than half of UK organisations (48%) actually have a business continuity plan in place.

The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) survey of 1,257 public and private sector managers also showed that only half of those with a plan rehearsed it at least once a year. Worryingly, more than a third (37%) said

they did nothing once their plan was developed.

Interestingly, 61% of managers said they out-sourced facilities or services, but only 22% demanded a business continuity plan from critical suppliers. Almost half (48%) said they were satisfied with a statement from the supplier.

John Sharp, policy and development director at the Continuity Forum, said: "Successful business continuity planning is a two-way process. Organisations need to demonstrate their commitment to business continuity management to key stakeholders internally and externally, but at the same time should encourage suppliers to do the same.

"Failure to do so will lead to major business disruption as inadequate plans are exposed at the time they are needed most."

Secure workforce

The 2007 Business Continuity Management Survey, supported by the Cabinet Office and Continuity Forum, also revealed that one in four (28%) organisations had been affected by extreme weather in the 12 months to January this year - up from less than 9% the previous year.

Managers were asked if their employer had an action plan in case of a flu pandemic, and more than half (55%) said they had, but less than a fifth (19%) thought their organisation's plan was sufficient to cope if a pandemic meant staff with children had to miss work due to childcare and school closures.

Almost half of those surveyed (49%) perceived damage to their brand as a major threat to their business, but far less (35%) had considered their reputation in their plan. Losing skills was another big worry (59%) followed by a loss of people (57%).

Over half (53%) said their organisation was ready for remote working "to a great extent" and nearly two-thirds (64%) had access to alternative work sites.

The CMI's Jo Causon said: "Protecting an organisation's infrastructure is, of course, vital to its sustainability. However, technology is nothing without the people who can use it. Unless organisations balance the need to safeguard buildings with the need to secure their workforce, any attempt at business continuity management will remain unfinished and inadequate."