Table of Contents
Abstract
The persistence of this paper is to define a proper picture of business continuity management, with reference to the different approaches stranded in relative works. This paper is a literature review which explains the Business continuity management (BCM) and Crisis management (CM), their framework and life cycles. Few papers and journals were referred to derive an idea about the life cycle of BCM and CM in health domain. The dissension in the link between the BCM and the CM is a major ground for this paper. A perennial simulation framework is proposed within the domain crisis of crisis management. The framework for the design, implementation and monitoring of a BCM programme within the heath care sector is also realised in this work.
Introduction
In recent years we have perceived a sequence of headline-grabbing, alleged infuriating disasters: hurricanes, power outages, overflows, cyclones, earthquakes, and blizzards. Mother Nature has been delivering fierce hurricanes, horrific earthquakes, and devastating floods. Man-made disasters such as the burning of Rome, San Francisco, and Chicago have also been with mankind since the beginning of recorded history (Blyth, 2009). What makes them different today is the density of our population and production centres.
But the density in population in recent times creates a major difference between the disasters in recent and past times. As the time goes, our world will witness some great disasters both by nature and mankind. The prediction for a growing toll from these forces is not good (Barnes, 2001; Blyth, 2009).
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It is these more common occurrences—those that happen to an individual company as opposed to an entire area—that get the senior management of a company to take discussions beyond the point of ‘‘what if’’ to questions of ‘‘how we can prepare for this type of thing happening again?’’ (Barnes, 2001) Companies that are the most motivated to do something about disaster recovery are those that have recently had a disaster within their organization. This is a rather sad commentary, but most organizations are still reactive rather than proactive (Krell, 2006).
Also, at some point this is understandable that the organisation cannot be proactive for a disruption which was never expected like terrorist attack. When this kind of disasters occurs, they damage the business activity in an impactful manner.
Nowadays, the business world is experiencing an increasing level of uncertainty in its environment, where it can lead to adverse financial implications, damage to corporate reputation, viability and integrity (Marsh, 2007). Furthermore, throughout the business process, there are times when an unexpected situation or event may occur. Events like crises or emergencies can occur unexpectedly during conducting business activities, and these cannot be overlooked (Sagita, Supriadi, & Pheng, 2018).
In order to overcome a crisis and to continue business as usual, an organization or firm must first have systematic ways and approaches in place. Although some organizations survive such events due to perseverance, but continuity of a business is primarily due to planning and preparation (Royds, 2010). There are various management concepts that can be adopted to overcome crises, such as crisis management, emergency management, risk management, and disaster recovery concepts (Blyth, 2009).
In addition to these, there is one concept that is viewed as a unifying process where the abovementioned concepts are included. The concept is Business Continuity Management (BCM), where it is not only focusing on overcoming any crises that occurred, but also considering thoroughly on how to sustain the business in order to obtain its goals and mission (Smith);
BCM provides a method for managing any disruption to ensure continuity of service when there is a disruption of business. Moreover, business continuity means to conduct activities that are needed for keeping the business operations running during a period of displacement or interruption (VMIA, 2007).
Going further in Section 2, Business continuity management is discussed in detailed, and their segments are analysed, and Business Impact analysis is explained in detailed. BCM life cycle is widely discussed in the preceding sections and after the value and importance of BCM is explained with specific example. Similarly, In Section 3, Crisis management is analysed on same ground explaining their life cycle, impact and segments. In Section 4, who CM is ideal from BCM is explained.
Business Continuity Management (BCM)
Definition
The Disaster Recovery Institute (Kato & Charoenrat, March 2018) defines BCM as “a management process that identifies risk, threats and vulnerabilities that could impact an entity’s continued operations and provides a framework for building organisational resilience and the capability for an effective response”. BCM on the other hand is observed as a subdivision of a wider risk management tactic. BCM emphases on risks which portend the continuity of critical business operations.
According to the International Organisation for standardisation (2015), “Holistic management process that identifies potential threats to an organization and the impacts to business operations those threats, if realized, might cause, and which provides a framework for building organizational resilience with the capability of an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value-creating activities” (Multi-hazard business continuity management: Guide for small and medium enterprises., 2011).
Business Continuity Management is a management process aimed to counteract the negative impacts of possible threats on the continuity of organisational activities. BCM does so by strengthening resilience through risk preventive and mitigation measures, as preparedness arrangements (MHBCM, 2011).
BCM (business continuity management) is crucial to provide confidence that the outputs of processes and operations can be delivered reliably through the CIs in the face of risks (F & Buchanan, 2006).
The above fig. 1, represents the Business continuity Management strategies assisted by the automation can only ensure that the established continuity capability, current, viable and available during a crisis.Figure 1 Business Continuity Management (Marsh, 2007)
Elements of BCM
BCM consists of three elements such as:
- Preventative measures
- Preparedness arrangements and
- Response options
As mentioned in the below fig. 2, the Preventive measure and Preparedness arrangements are managed before the occurrence of a disaster, the preventive measure can help to reduce the frequency of occurrence of the hazards. (Kato & Charoenrat, March 2018)
Business Impact Analysis
A crucial Part of BCM is business impact analysis, to determine the latent probability and consequence of the events and the dependence between previous factors and subsequent events. These previous studies on BCM have pointed out (Xing & Zio, Dec 2016).
The benefit for crisis and recovery management. The hazards need to be considered over the whole business process. To this purpose, the business process can be divided into four phases along the event evolution process.
These previous studies on BCM have pointed out the benefit for crisis and recovery management. The hazards need to be considered over the whole business process. To this purpose, the business process can be divided into four phases along the event evolution process, as shown in Fig 1. Firstly, when the hazard attacks the targeted system, it could cross the preventive barriers (black rectangle) and affect the business of the system (S1). When the accident enters the crisis stage (S2), the mitigative barriers (gray rectangle) and the emergency decisions taken to control the accident, shape the resistance of the system in minimizing the damage. Then, external resources would be called upon to rescue the system, reducing the damage. During the emergency stage, additional emergency barriers (dark rectangle) and decisions of action shape the evolution of the accident. Eventually, a last step of recovery is undertaken to regain the site safety and reconstruct business, as soon as possible. The overall business loss and consequences depend on the present barriers and decisions taken at the various stages of accident evolution.
Analysis framework
Risk management of Critical infrastructure’s typically includes accident occurrence prevention and consequence mitigation. Emergency and recovery are usually considered outside this parameter, or at least separated. On the contrary, an integrated framework of risk analysis and management seems in order. For example, in the Huangdao petroleum transportation pipeline explosion accident of 2013, the reason for the accident escalation was a mis operation in the emergency phase, causing the explosion of the volatile gas. In 2015 Tianjin Port accident in China, 99 firefighters and 11 policemen died (among 165 casualties) during emergency operations.
The proposed integrated framework of BCM consists of four stages of a risk management process. The interface and dependence between different stages needs to be analysed, for effective management decisions. For business continuity throughout the [image: ]different stages of risk management, the different safety barriers play an important role. Accident prevention involves technical aspects and organization decisions, concerning passive barriers, active barriers, human factors, etc. (Dianous and Fievez 2006). Once the hazard affects the system, an emergency arises, for which mitigation of consequences is the important aspect. Also, there exist passive or active barriers, detection and diagnosis instruments, and human actions. Then, when in the emergency stage, appropriate decisions and safety actions must be taken to safeguard the emergency activities. The principle is to control the hazardous consequences of the accident, for eliminating the site danger and provide suitable, safe recovery conditions of the system. Eventually, recovery starts.Figure 4 Extended Bow-Tie for the integrated framework of BCM
Extended Bow-Tie Model for BCM Framework
Bow-Tie is a traditional method to model an accident process, coupling a fault tree and an event tree representation (Chevreau, Wybo et al. 2006). The use of Bow-Tie is common in many areas of risk management, hazard analysis, accident scenario analysis (Khakzad, Khan et al. 2011). Bow-Tie is capable of representing the logic relationships between the causes, intermediate events, possible consequences and safety barriers involved in an accident progression. Typically, the representation ends at the accident consequence, without considering emergency and recovery. Also, in traditional Bow-Tie the causes and consequences are assumed independent, which does not reflect the reality in some practical situations. We develop a Bow-Tie for the integrated framework of BCM.
In stage S1, the hazards affect the system operation by generating business disturbance, which becomes a hazardous event if the disturbance goes through the safety barriers. As the accident progresses, it comes to the crisis stage, where consequences (e.g. materials waste, explosion, injuries, fatalities) are experienced to an extent which depends on the effectiveness of the mitigation barriers. Emergency decisions and actions are needed to prevent the accident to expand. Finally, decisions and actions are required to guide the recovery of the business to normal situation
Importance of BCM
Business continuity is not only about recovering critical functions from a disaster but also ensuring that critical functions continue promptly in the event of a distribution. It is the capability of the organisation to continue delivery of the products or the services at acceptable predefined levels following a disruptive incident. (Source: ISO 22301:2012).
Importance of BCM in Healthcare
Saves Lives – may include evacuation of wards during a fire incident or the prevention of spread of diseases by patients.
Retrieval of patient Records – having an effective business continuity plan ensures that medical professional would have patient’s critical data restored, allowing them to continue to provide vital care to the patients.
Protects Sensitive Data – patients’ electronic data is often accessed from multiple sources and while secured, information can still be at risk when a disaster, BCP addressing this can let organisations to continue to access clean and uncompromised data.
Maintains Efficiency – loss or corruption of data can be extremely costly especially when the recovery of system failure or data takes days or weeks. Employees will not be able to preform their jobs efficiently which will impact operating costs. Having a BCP will reduce the downtime and maintain operational efficiency after a disaster.
Value of Business Continuity Management
Business Continuity Management plans can offer companies better supply chain guarantee; be a market differentiator in rapports of efficiency, dexterity, and the overall competitive value; and frequently permit the Organization to recognize, realize, and counterpoise risks preceding their manifestation, also conceivably operate within business environments in which they will be otherwise prohibited from engaging.
The value of developing an effective Business Continuity Management Plan highlights how enterprise resilience and recovery measures can:
- Map risks and guide management responses.
- Protect the company’s business and corporate interests.
- Bring order out of chaos in order to depict a true reflection of an organization’s ability to deal with a crisis.
- Provide confidence to managers, employees, clients, and investors.
- Integrate recovery measures across disparate and dispersed organizations.
- Leverage organic and external resources to manage and respond to crises.
- Increase profits and productivity and reduce costs and liabilities.
- Protect facilities, resources, and human life.
- Meet specific regulatory and industry standards.
