# 2923
Government agencies, both here and in the UK, are generally better prepared than the private sector when it comes to Continuity Of Operations Planning – or COOP as well call it here in the United States.
In the UK, they call it BCM – or Business Continuity Management.
Either way, these are detailed plans that enable businesses to survive serious disasters like data loss, severe weather, and pandemics.
Sadly, relatively few businesses have adequate BCM or COOP plans in place. And many businesses that do have plans, fail to test them.
ZDNet has an overview of a new report, jointly issued by The Chartered Management Institute and the British Cabinet Office, detailing the lack of planning in the UK for disasters.
UK firms not ready for hack attacks, flu, bad weather
By Natasha Lomas, Special to ZDNet Asia
Friday, March 20, 2009 09:22 AMU.K. organizations are still not doing enough to ensure business continuity in the event of a disaster or IT failure, a new report has warned--despite fears over online attacks and disease.
According to a report by the Chartered Management Institute and Cabinet Office, fewer than half (38 percent) of survey respondents said their organization has plans in place to cope with business disruption.
The report found the two greatest concerns for organizations are electronic attack (identified by 58 percent) and human disease such as a flu pandemic (57 percent). However, more than half (53 percent) of respondents said their organizations still have no plans in place to help them cope during a pandemic.
U.K. managers in the IT sector are most worried about electronic attacks; followed by human disease knocking out the workforce; the impact of severe weather; and destruction of critical infrastructure respectively.
However, less than a third (30 percent) of organizations have plans in place to cater for IT loss; only 17 percent are prepared to cope with enforced absence of staff, and just 16 percent are ready for severe weather.
Natasha Lomas of Silicon.com reported from London.
Download the free report - A Decade of Living Dangerously as a PDF file.
The Chartered Management Institute has issued a press release on this paper, as well:
Decade of ignored warnings leaves UK plc at risk
19th March 2009
Businesses across the UK are failing to guard themselves against disaster.
Ten years of warnings have gone largely unheeded leaving UK plc vulnerable to disaster and disruption. ‘A Decade of Living Dangerously’, published today, reveals that organisations continue to show signs of complacency, despite growing clamour for action from regulators, insurers and customers. Despite pockets of improvement, some areas have shown a decline, leaving the overall picture near-stagnant when it comes to business readiness to face disruption.
The report, published by the Chartered Management Institute and Cabinet Office, warns that organisations are not doing enough to guard against technology and utility failures, enforced staff absence, or the impact of extreme weather. It argues that many UK employers are ignoring the concerns outlined in the National Risk Register, although in limited areas there have been improvements. Moreover, the report demonstrates that where resilience measures are undertaken, companies are better placed to survive and thrive.
Based on the views of 1,012 senior executives from across the public, private and voluntary sectors, key findings include:
- Low level protection: only half (52 per cent) of the respondents questioned said their organisation had plans in place to cope with business disruption. While this figure is worryingly low, it is a 5 per cent increase on last year, and the highest score ever recorded by the survey.
- Casual approach: 32 per cent of organisations don’t test their continuity plans at all, a figure that remains largely unchanged since 1999 (30 per cent). Just 21 per cent of Boards take responsibility for business continuity management, down 8 points in two years. Employees suggesting business continuity is seen as important by their employer has also dropped – by 12 points – in the past year.
- Registering risk: UK managers are most worried about electronic attacks (58 per cent), human disease knocking out the workforce (57 per cent), the impact of severe weather (52 per cent), and destruction of critical infrastructure (50 per cent). However, just 42 per cent of organisations have plans in place to cater for IT loss and only 30 per cent are prepared to cope with enforced absence of staff or severe weather.
A serious disaster, whether it be a hack attack on your data, severe storms, or worst case – a severe pandemic - could deliver a death blow to any business that fails to prepared adequately.
For some ideas of how to get started creating a COOP plan for your business, a good place to start is:
Quick! Who's Your CPO?
And a reminder: Individuals, families, and organizations also need their own COOP plan.
Some recent essays that might help in this regard include:
