IT departments must convince business managers to take a
lead in spearheading
business continuity planning (BCP) and responsibility for
recovery should not rest solely with IT
This was the message from Martin Kelmanson, the head of
Information and Communications Technology Services (ICTS) at the
British Medical Association (BMA).
If they did not, continuity plans that focused on IT could fail,
said Kelmanson. He said that IT directors can help educate the
business, but because of the pervasiveness of technology,
continuity should not be left just to the IT department.
Speaking to an audience of managers at the
IT Director’s Forum, he advised attendees to go about setting
up a steering committee,
incorporating stakeholders from across the business, to take a
closer look at some of the assumptions behind their recovery plans,
and determine what could prevent plans from being carried out.
“What could scupper your plans and how can you be sure your BCP
strategy is correct? Have the events of the last two years changed
the game for your company? If you outsource, have your suppliers
and partners asked themselves these questions?”
Answering these questions with wider company input would help
strengthen any plan, compared with one that lay responsibility
solely at IT, said Kelmanson. He recounted the story of his
organisation’s experiences on
7
July 2005, when a bomb exploded outside their building in
London, and the lessons learned which have contributed to the
formation of a much stronger continuity plan.
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