The evolution of business continuity management in large Irish enterprises between 2004 and 2009

Abstract

The research surveys large Irish enterprises in 2004 and again in 2009 with a view to determining how Business Continuity Management (BCM) has evolved during this five year period. Of the fifty two original organizations, forty four were still trading and twenty eight (63%) agreed to participate in the follow up study. In order to explore the findings from the survey interviews were conducted to allow for a more in-depth discussion of the key findings and possible explanations for the various trends identified. The results of the study show that: responsibility for BCM is firmly placed in the realm of senior and middle management with a low level of directorial involvement; computer viruses/bugs are now viewed as the greatest threat to Business Continuity; loss of telecommunications is the most often experienced disruption; external rather than internal pressures drive most BCM activity; 89% of organizations have a regularly exercised BCP; and BS 25999 has not as yet had a wide impact in Irish organizations. On the basis of these findings recommendations were made for national policy formulation and regulation and, at an organizational level, for building organizational resilience