Ensuring business continuity means that an entity has strategic and tactical skills in responding to hazardous situations, that it plans it and that it has the ability to continue its activities at a predefined acceptable level for business interruptions. There is not much emphasis on business continuity. However, it is seen that the incidents, efforts, efforts and efforts are wasted at a time for unforeseen reasons.
At the heart of the concept of business continuity is the fact that business interruption. Business interruption means disruptions in the activities of enterprises due to previously unknown, unplanned hazards that adversely affect the enterprise. These hazards can be caused by natural events such as earthquakes, floods, storms or fire, economic crises and similar events.
Often, these job cuts can be so large that businesses cannot handle them. According to the results of a study conducted in the United States, 40, one in every five organizations, has not been able to continue its activities. 33 percent of the organizations that can continue their activities in some way, that is one of every three organizations, stopped their activities after two years. Only these statistical results reveal the importance of business continuity.
Faced with a disaster or disaster, businesses face serious financial losses as well as problems such as market loss and loss of reputation.
It is important for organizations of all sizes and sectors to be prepared for an unexpected situation and to have the flexibility to continue their operations within a plan and program.
History of Business Continuity Approach
The importance and applications of the concept of business continuity only came with the beginning of the 2000 years. At that time, computer software and hardware year information was kept as two figures. Since the year information will be yıl 2000 te during the transition to 00, there has been a concern of systems crashing and measures have been taken to prevent interruption in business continuity. As a precaution, all organizations, large and small, have started to review all software and hardware that may cause problems and take the necessary measures. However, they started to develop contingency plans about what should be done in case of an interruption due to an unforeseen reason.
This is the first time that business continuity concepts emerged. The first written plan on this subject is the Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Business Continuity and Contingency Planning prepared by the US General Accounting Office. This plan was then taken as an example all over the world.
Companies generally show only the physical items in their assets on their balance sheets. However, in addition to these physical beings, they have serious intellectual capital. This intellectual capital is the processes, designs, methods, customer information and data stored on the computer that reflect the way companies do business. Companies are increasingly dependent on information technologies. Therefore, in order to ensure the continuity of information systems and to maintain its values, business continuity must be taken seriously by the senior management.
What is ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System?
The ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System standard published by the International Standards Organization is a management system standard required to protect the organization against any development that may disrupt business continuity, to minimize the possibility of these developments to occur and to ensure that the organization is reinstated in such a short time.
Business continuity processes are among the processes that organizations should manage most effectively today. In order for the organization to continue its activities at pre-defined acceptable levels after an event that interrupts its products and services, business continuity processes must be determined and documented.
ISO 22301 standard is approved by approximately 160 countries. This standard is an enhanced version of the BS 25999 Business Continuity Standard that was previously applied.
In the implementation of the ISO 22301 standard, organizations are required to prepare the necessary plans, implement them, manage them, follow them and update them if necessary in order to ensure business continuity.
What does ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System Gain for Organizations?
ISO 22301 standard provides protection in case of risks that jeopardize business continuity. Therefore, the ISO 22301 standard can be applied to organizations in different sectors in any organization regardless of their size and activities. By applying this standard, organizations generally achieve the following benefits:
- For the organization, current and future threats are identified today.
- When threats occur, they are easier to manage.
- Measures are taken to minimize the impact of the hazards that may occur.
- It is ensured that the critical activities of the organization are carried out without interruption and they are operational at any time during crisis periods.
- In case of danger, downtimes are minimized and normalization times are improved.
- It allows customers and suppliers to act more flexibly and the organization's supply chain becomes more secure.
- By providing business continuity, superiority is achieved over competitors.
- In this way, the reputation of the organization, reputation and brand value is preserved.
ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System and Implementation Strategy
The implementation of the ISO 22301 standard expresses value only by understanding the business risks and the consequences of these risks and applying the measures to be taken against them. Each event or every occurrence may have an individual impact on the target products and services of the organization. Organizations can only see these impacts more clearly by performing a comprehensive business impact analysis and then applying a risk approach methodology. If there is a risk, there is a situation that threatens business continuity. Risk management aims to manage the risks surrounding the organization's key products and services. The realization of products and services can often be interrupted by various events that are difficult to predict or analyze. Organizations try to eliminate the effects of the risks by one of the options of transfer, acceptance, reduction or elimination of the risk.
By conducting business continuity management, it is aimed to present product and service production as planned in general and to ensure continuity in business processes. Managers are responsible for ensuring the continuity of the organization's ability to operate uninterruptedly.
What are the principles of the ISO 22301 Standard?
When setting up the ISO 22301 standard in a business, the following five principles are considered:
- The participation of senior management in the business continuity management system is very important for the efficiency of the business continuity studies.
- Business continuity criteria should be ranked according to the priorities of the organization's products and services.
- The organization should conduct risk assessments of critical business processes and determine the business continuity strategy accordingly.
- Within the framework of the determined business continuity strategy, the steps to be taken should be determined.
- Exercises, practices, review activities and audits should be identified to ensure that the organization's strategies and plans are adequate, current and appropriate.
The ISO 22301 standard is a structure that requires a level of cooperation from the top executives to the lowest level employees. Business continuity practices will achieve the desired goal as long as the movement and coordination are ensured within this structure.
our organization TÜRCERT Technical Control and Certification Inc., ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System certification studies, national and international accreditation organizations are based on the authority.