Business continuity management (BCM)

Business continuity management (BCM) is a proactive system that systematically identifies and assesses threats to an organization and implements procedures to ensure that critical services and systems will remain operational in the event of a disruption. It covers activities that help an organization to recognize potential risks and vulnerabilities, identify the actions needed to mitigate them, and procedures to management the unexpected. As part of a comprehensive information security strategy, BCM helps organizations protect their assets by implementing methods that ensure critical systems remain operational.

BCM ensures that the organization can continue operating regardless of the disruption, and can be as simple as having alternate methods of communication or backing up data to a more complex strategy, such as securing additional servers and data recovery resources.

BCM includes different elements such as risk assessment, threat and vulnerability assessment, business impact assessment, risk mitigation, business continuity planning, incident response, and post-incident recovery. Risk assessment evaluates an organization’s potential exposure to certain threats or hazards. Threat and vulnerability assessment identify the possible threats to the organization as well as vulnerabilities that may allow those threats to be successful. Business impact assessment evaluates the impact of potential threats or disruptions on the organization’s business goals and objectives. Risk mitigation efforts minimize the impact of threats or disruptions. Business continuity planning addresses recovery strategies, such as alternate communication and recovery procedures. Incident response processes address how the organization should handle specific incidents or disruptions while post-incident recovery plans may include strategies to help the organization return to its pre-incident state of operations.

Business continuity management is an important component of business continuity and involves a comprehensive approach to ensure the continual operations of an organization even under the most extreme circumstances. It provides organizations with the means to prepare for, respond to, and recover from any incident that has the potential to cause serious disruption of business operations, loss of data, or financial and reputational damage.