The BCM life cycle -
Stage 2: BCM strategies
Having identified those areas where the organisation is most at risk, a decision has to be made as to what approach is to be taken to protect the operation.
The nature of risk - defined in terms of its likelihood and impact - will determine which business continuity strategy is appropriate and what, if any, action is required. At one end of the spectrum, disruptions that are low likelihood and low impact may require no specific action, and may merely be dealt with through generic arrangements. Risks that are high impact and high probability, on the other hand, may point to the development of specific plans and risk mitigation strategies.
A number of the strategies that could be adopted are given below:
- do nothing - in some instances top-level management may consider the risk to be acceptable;
- change, transfer or end the process - such decisions to alter business process must be taken with regard to the organisation's key objectives and any statutory responsibilities;
- insure - may provide some financial recompense or support but will not aid the organisation's response and will not meet all losses (eg reputation and other non-financial impacts, human consequences);
- mitigate loss - tangible procedures to eliminate or reduce risk within the business; and
- plan for business continuity - an approach that seeks to improve the organisation's resilience to interruption, allowing for the recovery of key business and systems processes within the recovery time frame objective, while maintaining their critical functions.
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