ISO 22301

It is easy to imagine the consequences for an organization if its business was lost, destroyed, corrupted, burnt, flooded, sabotaged or misused. In many cases, it can (and has) led to the collapse of companies. The goal of ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) is to provide the organization with the ability to effectively respond to threats such as natural disasters or data breaches and protect the business interests of the organization. ISO 22301 is applicable to any type of organization, large or small, and within any industry sector.

ISO 22301, a business continuity management system emphasizes the importance of understanding continuity and preparedness needs, as well as the necessity for establishing business continuity management policy and objectives, implementing and operating controls and measures for managing an organization’s overall continuity risks, monitoring and reviewing the performance and effectiveness of the business continuity management system and continual improvement based on objective measurements.

ISO 22301 includes disaster recovery, business recovery, crisis management, incident management, emergency management and contingency planning.

Benefits

1. It increases chance of winning contracts : For many years now, both Public and Private Sector realized the benefits of ISO 22301; they started to demand it of their suppliers too. By making ISO 22301 a requirement in tenders and contracts throughout the business supply chain.

2. It improves Stakeholders and Customer Confidence: An integral aspect of ISO 22301 is stakeholders & customer confidence. It gives customers and stakeholders’ confidence in your business continuity controls system.

3. Identification of Potential Risks : The business continuity management system assist organizations in getting clear picture about how their organizations operate, what and where could be the potential internal and external risks to their assets and where and how their system, processes, people could fail.

4. Due Diligence : Compliance with, or certification against, and international standard is often used by management to demonstrate due diligence.

5. It can increase employee motivation & participation : When proper processes are in place, staff will feel more at ease with their job roles, leading to greater job satisfaction and motivation, especially when they are made aware of how business continuity and overall success depends on them.
Achieving certification to an internationally recognized business continuity management standard is something to be proud of, so becoming certified should be celebrated!

6. Continual improvement: A fundamental part of all ISO management standards is continual improvement, challenging you to strive to make improvements year on year. By doing so, the benefits mentioned above are further felt.