Business continuity management (BCM)

The importance of business continuity management

Business continuity management (BCM) is the name given to the process that helps you to:

Reduce the chances of a disruption
Respond more effectively when disruptions and emergencies occur
Recover from emergencies and disruptions more quickly

As well as being good business practice, local authority-maintained schools are required to have a business continuity plan under the Schools Financial Value Standard.

Since it's not possible to write a plan for every possible scenario, BCM helps you to mitigate the effects of disruption which generally means one or more of the following:

An inability to carry out daily activities
Shortage of staff due to illness, or strike action
Loss of building, or part of building or access to the building
Adverse publicity and/or reputational impacts
Loss of ICT
Loss of critical supplier or partner

Next : Business impact analysis (BIA)

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