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Defining Business Continuity and Its Benefits

Quality InsightsApril 21, 2023

What exactly is business continuity? What are its benefits? We explore the answers to these two vital questions.

All shapes and sizes

From adverse weather and cyberattacks to supply chain failure and key employees leaving, disruptions to businesses come in many shapes and sizes, and can happen in an instant.

What is business continuity?

Business continuity centers on implementing a plan to deal with difficult situations, so that your organization continues to function with minimal disruptions.

Key incidents

Here are just some incidents that your organization must consider and plan for:

  • Supply chain failure – a loss of access to materials, goods and/or services
  • Utility and digital outages – a lack of access to electricity, water or the internet
  • Cyber issues – a cyberattack resulting in your website and systems failing

Make a plan, implement the right tools

A robust business continuity plan and management system recognize key threats to your organization and analyze their potential impact on day-to-day operations.

Furthermore, they provide a way to mitigate threats, implementing a framework that allows key functions of the organization to continue, even in the worst times.

The leading business continuity standard

Every organization will need to respond to an incident that disrupts daily business operations. Therefore, a successful business continuity management system (BCMS) is essential.

ISO 22301 – security and resilience – BCMS – is a globally recognized standard to ensure business continuity management through implementing a robust system.

The standard specifies the requirements for implementing, maintaining and improving a BCMS to protect against, reduce the impact of, respond to and recover from disruptions.

Key benefits

Certification follows successful completion of an audit and enables you to:

  • Implement organization-wide identification and understanding of critical business processes and the impact of disruptions
  • Proactively minimize impact
  • Increase resilience levels and recovery capabilities, as well as ensure that the business survives
  • Minimize downtime during incidents and improve recovery time(s)
  • Gain an advantage over less resilient competitors
  • Demonstrate resilience to customers, suppliers, media and stakeholders, especially during crisis conditions

With expertise in all major industries, we understand each sector’s pain points and have the technical skills and logistical capabilities to ensure realistic outcomes.

As the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company, we can help you through the process of complying with the standard, from homing in on critical areas and understanding core concepts to implementation and certification.

We also have a range of training services: 

  • ISO 22301 BCMS Auditor Conversion Training Course (CQI and IRCA)
  • ISO 22301 BCMS Auditor/Lead Auditor Training Course (CQI and IRCA)
  • ISO 22301 BCMS Foundation Training Course (CQI and IRCA)
  • ISO 22301 BCMS Implementation Training Course (SGS)
  • ISO 22301 BCMS Introduction and Implementation Training Course (SGS)
  • ISO 22301 BCMS Introduction Training Course (SGS)

For more information, visit our Certification and Training pages.

Proud to sponsor the latest BCI report

We are proud sponsors of the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) Supply Chain Resilience Report 2023.

By cleverly combining detailed data and in-person interviews, it provides the latest supply chain resilience information.

Get your copy here.

For further information, please contact:

Jason Hulbert
Associate Marketing Manager
Knowledge
t: +44 7912426878

About SGS

We are SGS – the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company. We are recognized as the global benchmark for sustainability, quality and integrity. Our 97,000 employees operate a network of 2,650 offices and laboratories, working together to enable a better, safer and more interconnected world.

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