What it is

Business Continuity Institute (BCI) Definition

"A holistic management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an organisation and provides a framework for building resilience with the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value-creating activities" (BCI 2005)

or

A necessary and important management process that helps keep an organisation going, even in the most trying of times.

Effective business continuity management
The success of business contintuity management is built on the 'seven Ps':

• People - roles and responsibilities, awareness and education
• Programme - proactively managing the process
• Processes - all organisational processes, including ICT
• Premises - buildings and facilities
• Providers - supply chain, including outsourcing
• Profile - brand, image and reputation
• Performance - benchmarking, evaluation and audit.