Podcast: Business continuity is not just an IT issue - Russell Price of the Continuity Forum

The responsibility for business continuity has to reside at the highest level or any organisation and not just with the IT department, says the Continuity Forum.

The Forum is a non-governmental organisation that provides independent advice and support to public and private sectors on business continuity.

Forum chairman, Russell Price said business continuity is the chief executive’s responsibility as well as the rest of the board.

“The reason is that that they are the ones who are custodians of the organisation’s integrity and accountable to all of the stakeholders, but they are also the ones who can empower the rest of the organisation to get business continuity embedded effectively,” he said.

Price said it would short-sighted to expect an IT director or manager to take on the responsibility of a manufacturing company’s continuity arrangements, for example.

He told ComputerWeekly.com that although IT is an important pillar of business continuity, overall plans need to be driven from an executive level because continuity involves more than an organisation's IT systems.