Business Continuity

Business continuity management is the strategic and tactical capability of the organisation to plan for and respond to incidents and business disruptions in order to continue business operations at an acceptable predefined level. In other words, BCM builds resilience into the business to survive disruption and continue essential services until business as usual can be resumed.

Datacom provides business continuity management services, usually as part of a wider consulting package. The process that Datacom follows is aligned to the following industry standards:

1. Business Continuity Institute Good Practice Guideline 2010 Global Edition
2. British Standard BS 25999-1:2006
3. ISO 3100:2009 Risk Management  - Principles and Guidelines

The process involves the following stages:

• Business Impact Analysis (BIA) – BIA has a twofold purpose. Firstly, to determine which business process or function is critical to the organisation in the event of a disruption. Secondly to determine how long the business can survive without the said process/function based on the Maximum Tolerable Period of Disruption (MTPD)
• Risk Management Process – risk is defined as the effect of uncertainty on
• objectives.  Management involves the overall process of risk identification, risk analysis and  risk evaluation
• Initial Response Plan (IRP) – Specify who the primary contact people in the event of a disruption to each business function or process identified in the BIA
• Business Continuity Plan (BCP) – This is the plan to be used in the event of a disruption to respond to the disruption, safeguard the vital business functions and plan to return to business-as-usual
• Crisis Management Process – In the event of a crisis, there is a management structure based on a command and control approach