The newBritish standard (BS) for business continuityis set to become an international standard, driven by
demand for supply chain security as global interdependencies
increase, says IBM.
"
BS 25999 will be of value in terms of
supply chain continuity assurance, competitive advantage and
potentially, further down the line, in simplifying and reducing the
costs of regulatory compliance," said Robin Gaddum a consultant at
IBM business continuity and resiliency services.
Gaddum said there was a lot of interest in the standard and he
expected it to evolve into an international standard within the
next two years in much the same way as the British standard on
quality management (BS 5750) progressed to become the
ISO 9000 series.
"A lot of consultation has gone on that has helped to lay the
foundation for [the standard's] broader acceptance, as well as
involvement from bodies such as the Cabinet Office Civil
Contingencies Secretariat and the Financial Services Authority
(FSA)," he said.
Gaddum predicts that organisations with big supply chains will
be among the first to adopt BS 25999 to ensure supply chain
security.
"For organisations such as Walmart, that has 60,000
organisations in its supply chain, certification on the standard
will be a quick and easy way of ensuring each supplier's business
continuity plans are up to scratch," he said.
Gaddum will tell attendees of next week's
Business
Continuity Expo in London that supply chain continuity is
becoming an important area of focus because of the risk created by
an increasing number of interdependencies between business
organisations around the world.
Another important driver for adoption of the standard, said
Gaddum, was its expected inclusion in the
Civil Contingencies Act in the next year. He said this would
ensure the standard's adoption by all public sector organisations,
including emergency services, hospitals, prisons and utility,
communication and transport companies.