The first British standard for business continuity
published last week will become a key element of the business
environment, according to a report to be published by
Sungard Availability Services later this year.
The report predicts that although business continuity has not
been an essential part of business partnerships in the past, the BS
25999 standard will soon become a core element of service level
agreements and tenders.
"Wherever organisations seek to be assured of the products they
are buying or selling, standards are an easy way of doing it," said
Ron Miller, managing consultant at SunGard Availability
Services.
He said now the BS 25999 standard was in place and certifiable,
within the next two years it was likely to become the guarantee
most organisations will look for to ensure their suppliers are
reliable and able to support them if something disruptive
occurred.
"Large organisations are less likely to be willing to do
business with suppliers unable to prove they have business
continuity plans in place, which will drive the standard down the
supply chain to all but the very smallest of companies," said
Miller.
However, he said even software development companies with fewer
than ten employees would have to consider certifying against the
standard to do business with large organisations.
"Although the competitive advantage of certification will erode
as more companies certify, there are other longer term benefits in
the form of risk mitigation and making organisations more
attractive to insurers," said Miller.
BSI British Standards, which developed the standard, has
published a book that advises organisations on how to prepare for
certification.
The book, The Route Map to Business Continuity Management:
Meeting the requirements of BS 25999, was written by John Sharp, an
honorary fellow of the Business Continuity Institute.
www.ukresilience.info
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