The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the thought leader as an individual, and are not attributed to CeFPro or any particular organization.
By Jimi Hinchliffe, Partner, The JADEtc Partnership & NFR Leaders Advisory Board member, CeFPro
How has recent volatility affected the ability to develop business continuity plans?
Sars-Cov19 was certainly not a so-called Black Swan event, indeed pandemics have been on most firms’ risk registers as low likelihood-high severity risks for decades (and pandemic was at the top of the UK risk register). However, the decision by many countries, including the UK, to abandon their established pandemic plans and implement lockdowns presented firms with an unanticipated (Black Swan) impact which rendered significant aspects of their plans redundant. Specifically, a core component of BCM had been use of DR sites, but the lockdowns meant instead that remote working was effectively mandated for most staff. However, firms with robust remote working protocols, plans and technology were able to weather the COVID19 storm better than most.
