BY Richard Summerfield
The BCI, in association with FortressAS, has published a new report looking at how business continuity and resilience may develop following the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘The Future of Business Continuity’ report outlines some of the most important lessons learned in the first half of 2020 and re-emphasises the importance of well-resourced business continuity professionals.
One of the report’s major themes is that many business continuity practitioners felt they were marginalised when key strategic decisions were being made in the early stages of the pandemic. Thirty-three percent of those surveyed for the report believe it is imperative that companies have a dedicated board member responsible for promoting resilience at all levels in the organisation. Respondents also believe that business continuity should not be subordinate to other departments, such as risk, for example.
As companies react to the developing COVID-19 crisis, business continuity has become central to the operations of many businesses. Many professionals expect this rising awareness to result in extra departmental resources going forward. Around 95 percent of those interviewed are confident of securing extra support for business continuity from a financial or resource perspective post-COVID, due to management’s increased awareness of the department during the crisis.
“COVID-19 may have shaken many organizations to their foundations, but it has highlighted the importance of business continuity as being at the core of an organisation’s resilience strategy,” said Rachael Elliott, head of thought leadership, at The BCI. “Professionals are hopeful of greater attention at Board level going forward, and the pandemic has helped to act as a silo-breaker between different departments’ resilience strategies. We don’t have long to act though – respondents believe we have just six months to make these theoretical concepts into actionable processes within organizations before they are forgotten.”