For outsiders, it\u2019s not easy to distinguish among the specific purposes of Business Continuity Management (BCM), Information Security (IS), and IT Disaster Recovery (IT DR). All three areas have something to do with \u201csecurity,\u201d \u201closses,\u201d \u201cdisasters,\u201d and \u201cprotection.\u201d Read on to learn more about the particular roles of disciplines often being misunderstood by management.<\/p>\n
For starters, let\u2019s have a look at the definitions (in practical terms, not the rather dry official definitions).<\/p>\n
As the name says, BCM<\/a> protects enterprises (whole businesses) from undesirable and uncontrollable consequences of business interruptions. Staff being the most precious resource of an organization, protecting employees\u2019 lives is of highest priority. Of course, apart from this aspect, typically there is a whole range of critical assets and resources to be protected, too. In the context of this article, IT can be considered one such critical resource. Implementation of a business continuity approach is governed by ISO 22301<\/a>.<\/p>\n Interruptions may or may not have anything to do with IT systems. They may be up and running, but if a major supply chain has been interrupted, production may stop unexpectedly and indefinitely. If a fire destroys a warehouse, your deliveries to customers might be affected. If staff is unable to reach the organization\u2019s call center because of bad weather, sales or customer service will be impacted.Various flavors of interruptions<\/h4>\n
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