IT tops business continuity league table

UK companies are more worried about losing IT capacity than losing staff or offices in the event of a terrorist attack.

Despite this, companies are failing to plan for possible disruption to their operations caused by war and terrorism, according to research by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

More than half of the 742 managers admitted that they did not know - or were unsure - whether their company had a business continuity plan in place.

Of the 46 per cent of firms that did have a plan in place, only one in five practise organisation-wide recovery, while 40 per cent limit their dry runs to IT.

And while more than four in five rehearsals revealed shortcomings, one in six companies subsequently failed to address the problems.

The findings of the fourth annual CMI survey, published in association with the Business Continuity Institute and the UK government's Civil Contingencies Secretariat based in the Cabinet Office, coincide with Business Continuity Awareness Week which started on Monday.

John Sharp, chief executive of the Business Continuity Institute, said: "External levers - demands from customers, insurers, regulators and the government - are forcing business leaders to take business continuity planning seriously.

"But one of the concerns we have is that the focus on IT systems could mean that they are neglecting softer issues regarding reputation and people where critical business areas are dealt with by just one person.

"Companies are also not spending enough time looking at their suppliers, including their outsourcing partners. Outsourcing agreements should be subject to very carefully managed service level agreements."

The research also found that organisations are more likely to have addressed the possibility of disruption to their business by a fire-fighters' strike (44 per cent) than the war in Iraq (17 per cent).

Some 32 per cent of UK companies ranked the increased threat of terrorist activity on a par with damage to their reputation or brand.

Functions most likely to be included in business continuity plans:

• IT (79 per cent)
• Finance (57 per cent)
• Facilities management (53 per cent)
• Human resources (53 per cent)
• Security (51 per cent)

Source: Chartered Management Institute