Business Continuity Management

4. Business Continuity Management: Strategy

The business continuity management strategy is developed using information collated from the business impact analysis and the risk assessment (both completed within stage 2 of the business continuity management process).

The strategy should be presented as a series of options for Senior Management to consider. These options should reflect a balance between risk reduction and recovery.

Defining the options within the strategy is the most important stage of the process. If the requirements' gathering is flawed the strategy will be flawed and will not fully support the business recovery.

Options may range from a low-cost strategy such as do nothing if the impacts are minimal or if Management is prepared to accept the risk, to full continuity provision, with obvious cost implications. The latter may be justifiable if:

• Impact is high
• Risks are great

It may be necessary to consider different options for short-term and long-term recovery and all costs and benefits of each option need to be understood before a decision is made.

Typically a strategy will fall somewhere between the two and will be a balance of risk reduction and recovery