Is Your BCM Program in Sync With Your Organization?

As a business continuity professional, what is most important to you? Do you ask yourself:

• Are business departmental plans up to date?
• Does the IT DR solution actually work?
• Do you have enough alternate location seats or enough remote access capacity?
• Will the next exercise be successful?

These are important, as is keeping the management team updated on status and issues. Your real value comes when you can integrate BCM concepts with the core competencies of your organization. See if you can answer the following:

• Do you know the priorities of your business departments (e.g., Supply Chain, Accounting, Marketing, Sales)?
  • What are the sales goals (revenue, profit margin)?
  • What is the supply chain strategy (real time shipments, safety stocks)?
  • What are the marketing strategy and target markets (media, demographics)?

• Do you know the organization’s core competencies?
  • Is it a services or product based company? What are those products or services?
  • Is the organization brick and mortar, online, or mixed? Which provides the most revenue/profit? What is the long-term outlook for each?

Understanding what your organization does at both a macro and micro level will help ensure that your BCM program is viable, functional and relevant. It also will help you know where gaps and issues exist. We encourage you to regularly spend time learning and understanding the priorities and goals of your organization. This knowledge makes you more effective and more valuable to the organization. In future blogs, we will discuss additional aspects of how the BCM program can ensure it is aligned with the business units and organization as a whole.