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.