New research has been published this morning by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) – in association with Aon, the British Standards Institution (BSI), the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) and the Civil Contingencies Secretariat in the Cabinet Office – under the heading ‘Managing Threats in a Dangerous World’.
The document examines how prepared organisations really were for unexpected and damaging disruptions to their day-to-day operations over the past year. These disruptions include cyber threats, which saw 12% of companies losing confidential information and 9% suffering a significant attempt to hack into their network in the past 12 months.
There’s also talk of last December’s heavy snow, which caused disruption to 92% of companies, the volcanic ash cloud (which impacted 53%) and the influenza epidemic, which also caused problems for 53% of respondents.
Business Continuity Awareness Week
The findings, released to coincide with the start of Business Continuity Awareness Week, also show that the recent media focus on high profile business continuity failures has had a real impact on the UK’s business planning.
15% of managers questioned feel that Deepwater Horizon had strengthened the case for their organisation to develop robust business continuity management plans, and 14% believe Wikileaks had caused their organisation to revisit its security arrangements.
Yet, despite 82% of those surveyed reporting that their senior management view business continuity management as important or very important, just 58% say they have plans in place to cater for unexpected disruptions.
A further 16% didn’t know whether or not their company has set crisis plans they should be following. This is of particular concern in the private sector, where fewer than half of businesses (49%) are prepared for threats to their day-to-day running.
Despite this, the report shows clear advantages for organisations which do have plans in place to deal with crises when they hit. Of those who had to activate plans, 84% agreed it reduced disruption and 77% stated that any cost in developing plans is offset by the business benefits they bring.
Better at putting plans in place
Ruth Spellman, the chief executive of the CMI, explained: “Today’s report shows that UK organisations must be better at putting plans in place to deal with disruptions to their day-to-day business. Every time an unexpected event interrupts or halts the operations of a business, charity or public sector body in this country, UK plc suffers – yet with good management this could be avoided.”
Spellman leads the drive to encourage greater focus on the high level skills needed to build UK competitiveness and productivity, and is also responsible for the Institute’s campaign to ensure 50% of managers are professionally qualified by 2020.
Prior to joining the Institute in June 2008, Spellman served as the first female chief executive of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and also spent 8 years as chief executive of Investors in People UK (where she helped raise the profile of the employer-led organisation across 27 countries).
During this period, Spellman was appointed cair of the skills body for the voluntary sector in a non-executive role, and was a non-executive director of Thompsons solicitors.
In 2007, the CMI’s leader was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List for services to workplace learning
Spellman continued: “With so many organisations now relying on online networks and systems to function, cyber security breaches have joined extreme weather, contagious illness and transport disruptions as one of the top risks to businesses performance.”
Change management and resourcing strategy
As HR director for the NSPCC, a role she held for seven years, Spellman was responsible for HR strategy, change management, resourcing strategy, employee communications, external communications and media relations. Her consultancy knowledge and strength resulted in new NSPCC policies which helped them to win the coveted Employer of the Year Award in 1996.
Spellman also spent five years working for Coopers and Lybrand. During this time, she worked with the Boards of six of the top 100 companies, and set up one of the firm’s HR branches.
Speaking about this current research report, the CMI’s leader went on to state: “Managers need to ensure that they have proactive plans in place to deal with the potential threats that could impact their business. Anticipating and planning for threats will help drastically reduce the negative impacts on your organisation should a situation occur, as well as helping you recover faster from any ill-effects.”
Learning the lessons of the last 12 months
As part of its commitment to revitalising management and leadership in the UK, the CMI is calling for all organisations to learn the lessons of the last 12 months in line with the report’s recommendations.
These recommendations include:
Spellman concluded: “In a post-recession, ‘age of austerity’ Britain both accountability and transparency are key to success. All organisations have a responsibility to their stakeholders, shareholders, customers, employees and partners to develop plans to ensure they can continue to operate through difficult or uncertain circumstances.”
To download a copy of the full CMI report access the web link provided on the right hand panel of this page
The CMI will also be hosting a free online ‘risk clinic’ on 28 March from 9.30 am-11.30 am, giving managers an opportunity to post questions live to a panel of management experts about continuity planning and disaster recovery. The discussion will go live on 28 March at www.managers.org.uk/riskclinic (again, a link is provided on the right hand panel of this page) and questions can be asked in advance by e-mailing [email protected]
For more information about Business Continuity Awareness Week (21 to 25 March 2011) visit the website (see opposite for the Internet page link)
