Business Continuity Planning
We help organizations prepare and deal with any potential threat to the smooth, efficient operation of prioritized business functions resulting from unforeseen or sudden major operational disruptions or disasters.
This service component results in a business continuity management system (BCMS) policy, documented and customized business continuity plans, either paper-based or in specialist business continuity planning software, that document the priorities and actions to be undertaken and resources required to recover and resume prioritized business functions in a timely and coordinated fashion following a disruptive incidence, recovery strategies and associated solutions, risk mitigations , a risk treatment plan and trained and exercised personnel.
ICT Disaster Recovery Planning
We help organizations prepare and deal with any potential threat to the smooth, efficient functioning of ICT services and underlying systems resulting from major system downtime, failures, or unforeseen disruptions.
This service component results in documented and customized ICT disaster recovery plans that describe the priorities and actions to be undertaken, resources and dependencies required to recover and resume ICT systems and services in a timely and coordinated fashion following a disruptive incident, associated recovery strategies, ICT continuity policies, a risk treatment plan and trained and exercised personnel.
BCMS Capability Assessment and Benchmarking
This service component is typically needed either by organizations that have done some business continuity planning but the management is not sure that the planning was effective, which is typical of most planning initiatives conducted internally, with the aim of improvements or initiation of a fresh business continuity planning project or by organizations that have a maturing business continuity management system (BCMS) but need to have their capability independently audited for the purpose of benchmarking against a standard, their peers, compliance or good practice.
We will conduct an assessment and give you a professional opinion and recommendations on how to improve the organization’s BCMS or initiate a fresh planning project.
This service is aimed at addressing the following potential concerns of the CEO, the board or the executive who is tasked with the BCMS
- Effectiveness of the existing business continuity capability.
- Whether the existing business continuity plan covers business functions or only ICT as is typically the case.
- Effectiveness of existing ICT disaster recovery capability.
- The need to benchmark the existing business continuity against a recognized international standard or good practice.
BCMS Planning Project Management
This service component provides a formal project management service to ensure that the business continuity planning project is carried out effectively, in particular that it is completed on schedule, budget, scope and quality.
Our project management methodology is based on the good practices of the Project Management Institute (PMI), (www.pmi.org). The service component is typically sold and packaged together with the business continuity management planning project.
Business Continuity Software Implementation
Under this service component we develop your new business continuity management system (BCMS) or migrate your current manual BCMS using specialist BCM software.
The leading BCM software that we implement is an enterprise-wide business continuity planning, IT disaster recovery planning, incident management, emergency communications, end-to-end web-based system. It features everything you’d expect from a globally leading and mature BCM software product.
It is in use across the world, and across all business sectors.
Feel free to contact us for a demo.
Strategy Solutions Implementation
This service is needed by organizations that have completed the initial business continuity planning project and are ready to progress to implementation of the business continuity recovery strategies and risk treatments formulated in the course of the planning project.
Typical projects that arise out of the planning project include projects to implement or enhance:
- Alternate or backup datacenter
- Alternate workspace or office
- Electronic document imaging and/or management for disaster recovery of paper-based documents and records
- Manual procedure documentation
- Supplier Service Level Agreements
- Supply Chain awareness
- Various risk treatments
Typically, these projects demand a lot more resources in terms of cost, project management skills and internal staff time than the initial planning project. Further, they can take more than one year to complete thus they distract and take staff and managers away from their core business activities. Worse, until these projects are completed, and completed successfully, the business continuity capability will not be effective and all the resources invested in the planning project would have been wasted.
Under this service, we provide professional project management to alleviate these pains.
Business Continuity Management Programme Maintenance Services
Plan Review and Update
This service component is geared at ensuring that at regular, scheduled intervals, plans are reviewed and updated to reflect the reality on the ground and ensure their effectiveness.
Plan review and update must be an ongoing process whereby plans are regularly reviewed and updated otherwise they would soon be invalidated by the very inevitable dynamic nature of any organization. With every passing day, an organization’s products or services, people, processes, technologies will change or new ones introduced.
Plan Exercising and Testing
Under this service component, we plan and facilitate regular scenario simulations to ensure business continuity plans remain valid and effective. Recovery teams are taken through regular scenario-based plan exercises that validate that the plans can be used to provide an effective resumption of critical business functions in the event of an actual disaster. Scenarios can include failure of ICT, civil unrest, natural disaster, cyberattack, etc.
Typically, exercises would target senior management crisis management teams or business units, and or ICT.
On completion of the business continuity scenario simulation, your company receives a management report together with a summary of observations and recommendations for plan update.
BCM Programme Audit
Under this service, we conduct a BCM Programme audit to ensure understanding of the true status of the programme. On completion of the audit, the organization receives a summary report of observations and recommendations for business continuity plan and entire BCM Programme update.
Only then can the CEO, Board or executive responsible for the programme, be confident that the programme is effective.
Training & Awareness
Incident Response Team Training
This training is geared towards ensuring that the designated incidence response and recovery team leaders and alternate team leaders of the various teams acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively lead their teams through execution of their respective business continuity plans. This training is conducted after the plans are developed and is customized to align it to the team/plan type.
Staff Awareness
These awareness sessions are geared towards ensuring that staff are prepared and possess the correct mind set to play their role during exercises and more importantly following an actual incident.
While training must be provided to staff with specific plan and BCMS roles and responsibilities, staff, who form the bulk of the foot soldiers during exercises and actual incident response and recovery activities must receive BCM awareness commensurate with their role in the plan. Managers who have not had any exposure to business continuity planning would also attend the Awareness sessions.
Standard Business Continuity Management Course
This is a free-standing Business Continuity Management course that runs over 5 days. It covers all components of business continuity planning. All the components of the BCMS, are explored using lectures, case studies, classroom exercises and appropriate audio and visual aids. The course is designed around the BCI Good Practice Guidelines.
This course is targeted at managers of the business units, ICT managers, who are expected to be directly involved in the key activities of the development and maintenance of the BCMS, such as business impact analysis, risk assessment, strategy development, etc., and aspiring BCM planners.
A variant of this course may also be customized for clients who have specific or unique needs, time constraints, such as top/crisis management teams or those who require only some modules.
Our Delivery Capability
Experience
Our experience spans over 18 years of business continuity planning, business continuity software implementation, training, strategy solutions implementation, and exercise facilitation for leading organizations in East Africa, such as KCB Group, Kenya Revenue Authority and Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Uniquely, we have extensive cross-sector experience in banking, insurance, and public sector.
Business Continuity Management Standards
Our BCM practice, including knowledge, methodologies, and consultant certifications is built on a solid foundation of internationally accepted “Good Practice Guidelines” as specified in the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) and ISO 22301 Standard on Business Continuity Management.
This ensures that the BCMS is aligned with recognized good practices and international standards.
Professional Recognition
Our consultants have demonstrated to the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) (www.thebci.org), the global professional body for Business Continuity practitioners that they possess the requisite training, knowledge and relevant experience to be certified as business continuity planners. Our consultants hold both BCI and ISO 22301 certifications.
Methodology
Our BCM consulting practice is based on the structured BCI “Good Practice Guidelines” Professional Practices as illustrated below:
Our Market
Business Continuity Management (BCM), as a strategic management discipline, is a process of anticipating major incidents that may disrupt critical business functions and activities of an organization, and ensuring a response to any such incident is planned and rehearsed.
An effective Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) will enable an organization to assure ability to:
- Resume business operations in timely fashion
- Maintain customer services
- Secure image, reputation or brand
- Meet legal, regulatory or contractual obligations
- Protect the organization’s assets
In East Africa, the early adopters of Business Continuity Management are to be found in financial and insurance services sectors just as in the developed world, but, where adoption of Business Continuity Management is relatively higher. While the bulk of our customers in these sectors, it is expected that other sectors will adopt BCM as it is implicit good corporate governance and demonstrates good practice in the management of organizations.
Target Organizations
Clearly, all medium to large organizations, both in private and public sectors require a business continuity capability. Any organization that is in financial services, supply of essential services or products, is in a very competitive market, values customer services, is a public agency that collects revenue or provides essential public services should develop a business continuity capability
Business Continuity Software Implementation
Under this service component we develop your new business continuity management system (BCMS) or migrate your current manual BCMS using specialist BCM software.
The leading BCM software that we implement is an enterprise-wide business continuity planning, IT disaster recovery planning, incident management, emergency communications, end-to-end web-based system. It features everything you’d expect from a globally leading and mature BCM software product.
It is in use across the world, and across all business sectors.
Feel free to contact us for a demo.