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Data recovery
Technology recovery
Business-process recovery
Crisis management
Customer-support operations
Facilities
Human resources
Procedures for key suppliers and partners
Public relations and damage control
Protection of intellectual property
20 40 60 80 100
Figure 18.5 Elements of a business continuity plan (BCP)
Note: Multiple responses allowed. Base: 245 companies with business continuity plans. Data: Information Week business continuity
survey of 350 business technolgy managers.
Source: Information Week in Luftman (2003) p. 164
communication in the event of an invocation
are not being addressed (Figure 18.5).
Crisis management is often referred to as
issues management by organizations in order
for a threat to appear less dramatic to prevent
over-reaction by the media and panic by susceptible
stakeholders (Table 18.4). The most
frequent potential crises many industries face,
especially the banking industry, are computer
viruses with the fear that one might one day
cause the collapse of all computer systems
throughout the world. This Y2K crisis failed to
materialize but large sums of money were
spent by companies panicked into putting
contingency plans in place. This involved
emergency training of staff and paying overtime
rates to IT employees for holiday pay.
One Canadian bank for example, held a fullday
simulation in their residential training centre
where nearly 500 senior staff participated.
They used two of their PR staff to simulate the
press, complete with professional video camera
to inject a level of realism into the situation
and to provide a tool for use at subsequent
debriefings via their own training video.
Luftman (2003) argues that ‘recovery and
management plans should be tested at least
annually or twice yearly, with performance
Table 18.4 Nine steps to managing BCP
performance
1 Visualize the business functions (top-down
approach)
2 Itemize the tasks involved (bottom-up approach)
3 Prioritize work only on critical functions until they
are substantially complete
4 Categorize and organize the problems into
management pieces of work
5 Minimize the risk – the ultimate goal of business
continuity planning
6 Organize staff to react to emergencies as they
occur
7 Rehearse events so that staff are familiar with the
planned responses
8 Sponsor/champion participation to demonstrate
and communicate the importance of the recovery
plan
9 Vigilant monitoring of supply chain and partners’
plans
Source: Giga Group in Luftman (2003)
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors