Ely, England, 15 January, 2009 – As the credit crunch bites and organisations struggle to survive, business continuity and civil contingency risks are dangers that cannot be ignored, and such threats as system failure, viral epidemic, public disorder and supplier collapse represent as serious a business challenge as disrupted cash flow. While all organisations quite rightly look to cut costs in this climate, a key area for ongoing investment is business continuity planning.
With both the private sector and the government looking for reassurance in this vital area, and so that organisations are ready to deal with this kind of threat, being able to meet the requirements of the BS25999 standard is increasingly a 'must have'. Acknowledged compliance gurus IT Governance understand business compliance needs and, to help businesses meet this challenge quickly and cost-effectively, have launched the BS25999 BCMS Implementation Toolkit. The toolkit is an inexpensive, downloadable business continuity resource to greatly simplify and speed up the goal of ensuring compliance and protecting the business.
While many organisations have some form of continuity arrangements in place, they are usually inadequate to ensure that the organisation will survive an unexpected business discontinuity. Yet, experience is starting to show that those organisations that follow the guidance contained in BS25999 are much better placed to withstand any such shock. The bad news is that design and implementation of a BS25999-business continuity system is a time consuming project – and time is what most organisations just don’t have. The good news is that help is at hand.
The BS25999 BCMS Implementation Toolkit is a unique new set of resources which will help organisations achieve BS25999 certification, the central standard for business continuity management. It contains all the documentation required to implement an effective business continuity programme. This will help CEOs demonstrate to partners, customers and stakeholders that the business is safeguarded against any break in the continued supply of the products or services delivered.
The toolkit offers all the essential templates and tools to implement a business continuity management system that meets the BS25999 specification. It features a business impact analysis tool, guidance on how to test business continuity plans and all the tools and templates that are necessary to meet the documentation requirements of BS25999.
Developed by IT Governance’s highly-experienced compliance professionals, the BS25999 BCMS Implementation Toolkit extends existing IT Governance resources to help managers deal with BS25999 compliance in the most cost-effective manner. It complements for instance not just the published BSI materials but also the company's own Business Continuity Management: a Manager's Guide to BS25999 and London-based classroom courses BS25999 Business Continuity Management Implementation Master Class. The Toolkit also features IT Governance’s BS25999: A Pocket Guide, and Business Continuity and BS25999: A Combined Glossary.
“Financial failure – amongst suppliers and customers alike – is, in a downturn, a significantly enhanced risk for most organisations,” warns Alan Calder, Chief Executive of IT Governance. “This risk should be analysed in detail, early in the down cycle and new, or improved, controls put in place to mitigate the risks. Those organisations that have an effective and robust corporate governance regime will, of course, already know this and their risk reviews will be well advanced.
“In the current credit crunch, the last thing you should be doing is cutting costs on your risk and business continuity management activities. Any organisation not addressing its information security needs with a formal governance regime is putting its very survival on the line,” he adds.
The BS25999 BCMS Implementation Toolkit is priced at £395/$573.90/€430.47 and can be downloaded from http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/2198. The toolkit is also available as a CD-ROM from http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/2203.
It can also be purchased with Business Continuity Management: a Manager’s Guide to BS25999 at http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/2204
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Marc Cornelius 80:20 Communications +44 (0)20 7664 6310
Amanda Burgess 80:20 Communications +44 (0)20 7664 6310
NOTES TO EDITORS
IT Governance Ltd is the one-stop shop for books, tools, training and consultancy for Governance, Risk Management and Compliance. It is a leading authority on data security and IT governance for business and the public sector. IT Governance is ‘non-geek’, approaching IT issues from a non-technology background and talking to management in its own language. Its customer base spans Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia. More information is available at www.itgovernance.co.uk.
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