We have all heard of the trickledown effect, and some of us have even been caught up in it. There is a chain of events that needs to take place to get from point A to point whatever. One chain that has become very necessary is that all important supply chain.
According to Brian Henry, MD of Caridon, the public and private sector organizations are operating in a fragile, interconnected world where supply chains span around the world. Because of this, corporations should be looking at how supply chain partners, customers and even the economy of a country or region could be affected by a disaster.
In a recent interview with itweb, Henry discussed some ideas as he said, “Today, we’re starting to look at business continuity’s role in keeping an economy going in the event of a disaster.” He believes that the latest publication from the International Standards Organization highlights the fact that business continuity has become an issue of national security.
Henry is the founder of Caridon Business Solutions, which is a consulting company focused on business consulting and solutions. He has been involved in business since 1970, during which he served for about 12 years as a management consultant with large consulting houses. In this capacity he provided support to management on a wide range of business systems issues across the African continent.
The International Organization for Standardization known as ISO is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. It was founded in 1947. Its recent publication is ISO 22301:2012.
ISO 22301 (ISO22301) outlines the international standards for Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS) required for a company to prepare for a disruptive incident. The requirements for a BCMS can be employed by any organization, no matter their size, type or location.
The feeling is that organizations that don't employ a BCMS face being unprepared should a disruptive incident occur. Organizations suffering a disruptive incident without having a BCMS face the following consequences of doing so:
- Loss of customers;
- Reputational damage;
- Monetary loss;
- Potentially going out of business.
Business continuity encompasses a loosely-defined set of planning, preparatory and related activities that are intended to ensure an organization's critical business functions will either continue to operate despite serious incidents or disasters that might otherwise have interrupted them, or will be recovered to an operational state within a reasonably short period.
In his itweb discussion, Henry says that the implication is that organizations should be thinking about their place in wider supply chains, communities, countries and even regions. The very name of the ISO standard – highlighting societal security – illustrates that the philosophy of business continuity can and should be applied to keeping economies running when the worst happens.
ISO 22301 is designed to enable companies to show legislators, regulators, customers, prospective clients and other interested parties that they're adhering to good practice in business continuity management. So far both the U.K. and Singapore have replaced their current national standards in favor of adopting ISO 22301.
On the other hand, South Africa has a long way to go just to meet the standard’s best practices. Apparently, in recent years, some of South Africa’s infrastructure has suffered serious decay. There are currently no clear plans in the works to diminish the risk of failure.
If you keep in mind everything that has been mentioned above, this is the type of disaster or at the very least disruption that could cause serious problems for South Africa. The adoption of national standards could help to alleviate this problem. Henry said, "We should have a government agency looking at this at a national level."
We have seen how a breakdown in the supply chain can affect companies. Last year, due to the fact that its suppliers could not deliver all of the necessary parts on time, HTC’s (News - Alert) flagship phone HTC One was delayed in going to market. This had a major impact on the company.
So you can see the far reaching implications that can occur with a breakdown in any one part of a chain.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson