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Dark Continuity

2011-05-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we signed a contract with a country head office for a multinational telecom provider based in Dubai. Very exciting, and takes us up to 2012 and hopefully beyond, building a continuity solution in a high risk environment... yes, its Nigeria. And yes, EVERYONE asks if they offered to make us rich etc, and yes, I always say 'of course'. But it is undoubtedly a high risk venture.

Personally, I believe Africa represents opportunity and for a web business, an area of strong growth potential. A higher percentage of Africans own mobile phones than in most so-called civilised countries, and that means web. China is investing heavily, extracting minerals and employing local workers. It's waking up.

For some, the matter of being there and staying safe presents an unnecessary challenge. For example, I've now had some 15 innoculations and I have to remember to take anti-malarials for each visit - total cost around £600. The visa application costs another £220. There's so-called 'dash' - local slang for tips, an essential to efficient working that you can't declare to the taxman. There's insurance, security and so-on.

Hopefully, this is peripheral (I'll let you know in a couple of weeks if I make it back). Three of us plan to fly to Lagos on 4th June to start work. It will initially involve a handful of sites with around 2000 staff in and around the city. We'll use INONI to capture all the data and produce BIA, Risk Assessment and multi-tier BC Plans for each location, integrating with existing crisis management and security infrastructure. We will teach, train and embed BC into the culture, moving to testing at a basic level by the end of 2011. Starting so late this is ambitious without a doubt (we planned to start a month ago) but still in with a shout.

INONI will play a really key part in this. The tool is set up and I believe that within a month of completing interviews (again, directly into the tool) we'll have a draft set of documents ready for review.

I'll post updates on Twitter @jrrINONI

All Change

2011-05-26T22:46:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the annual CIR Awards on Wednesday by a mainstream consulting partner and what a great opportunity to reflect a little on the state of the business continuity industry today. Granted, I didn't talk to hundreds of people whilst there, maybe 30 or 40 through the course of the evening, but enough to get a flavour.

The thing that struck me was on the one hand the number of new names sponsoring event categories, many with new takes on continuity, filling new developing niches with new initiatives that reflect the way we now operate. On the other, the longevity and continued dominance of the four mainstream DR mega-companies is never far away, and they never change.

I believe we have a three-tier economy in BC/DR: the super-stable top tier I just mentioned, and they probably hoover up 85% or more of the value that's out there, turning over $100's of millions in the UK built mostly on recurring DR revenue. There's a relatively stable middle layer of medium-sized companies with good non-DR products and a modest value proposition - I think the notification companies are a good example of this. Then in the third tier are the 'new wave' companies plus a plethora of one-man bands who struggle to stay afloat most of the time, never more so than in recession.

Is it a normal and healthy market? At the top end, maybe, however I sense there are few real fortunes being made elsewhere. Trading on FUD in a recession is never going to compete with biotech, the cloud and social media for sex appeal, hearts and minds or decent levels of investment.

The BC Software award was itself interesting, going to an Australian firm. Continuity is undoubtedly big down under and at INONI we have regular conversations and dealings with companies in Sydney. Did they deserve it? Who knows - it's hard to see how the judges make decisions on this since they can't possibly have used all of them. Maybe it's whoever has the best-trained or most effusive customers? Business Continuity Software is a pretty rarified topic and it always amazes me just how many providers manage to co-exist.

Should INONI have been up there? Well maybe. Next year I believe we'll have something special and different to shout about. Watch this space and visit our website www.inoni.co.uk to see what else we do.

Still simmering.... but will it boil?

2011-03-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

Today I assembled a small team at the behest of a good friend and colleague to deliver a BCM programme to an organisation in West Africa. Challenging, exciting, different are words that spring to mind, alongside remote, risky and plain dangerous. So where to draw the line? My view is that organisations in places like this are the true beneficiaries of our trade, they have most to gain by protecting themselves and we in turn have most to offer. True it may not be London's West End and true, you may need an armed guard if you want to walk the streets, but its surely different and represents a rich vein of opportunity. More on this to follow, no doubt.

INONI's next big release

2011-01-31T11:03:00.000-08:00

There's a lot happening out there right now. Tunisia, Yemen, Cairo and more. Kim Il Jong must be feeing upstaged. These pools of simmering and occasionally boiling resentment have some important messages for the world you can see the connectedness of things coming into play.

The climate warms and the increased energy it stores is being released in the form of background heating and sporadic but more frequent extremes, such as Brisbane. These in turn cause localised shortages and systemic anomalies, drawing resource and heightening political tensions. Pakistan is still reeling from its floods. The poor are getting poorer, the rich richer and hot spots will continue to develop. New economies are refocussing investment, consuming resources, changing maps and previously stable, wealthy countries used to a good standard of living now face many years or even permanent austerity and faced with a reduced military to boot. I believe business continuity will be more important than ever in this unstable environment.

Business continuity offers organisations a way of preparing for disruptions. Our aim is to make it a commodity, so large and small organisations alike can afford it and gain value from having it. Check out http://inoni.jrcpl.com and click on Small Firms to find out more.

Business Continuity Software

2010-07-31T08:32:00.000-07:00

INONI BCM Pro
Function: Lifecycle BCMS and ERMS (includes BIA, BCP, bespoke and self-developed tools). Launched 2005. Enhanced continually.

Professionals sometimes question the value of dedicated BCM software and there are reasons for this, sometimes relating to inflexibility, affecting end-user uptake. This can arise because BCM software typically uses a relational database with a fixed structure and as a result, one size must fit all. This is acceptable for those whose requirements closely fit the software, but for the rest it becomes a straitjacket. So is it possible to use software without sacrifice and improve the proposition? We believe it is.

INONI BCM Pro harnesses the power of a relational database but instead of imposing rigid structures, allows you to fine-tune or change structures without programmer intervention. It offers configurable interview-style dialogues to collect information so you don’t need to train staff to fill in forms, and you should be able to embed many aspects of your methodology and approach in INONI. Reporting is also configurable so you can build a bespoke delivery system. And of course, we provide a working standards-compliant BCMS to guarantee you a head start.

INONI BCM Pro delivers the following important benefits:
• Flexibility, so you can shape the software to fit the business
• Simplicity, so end-users require little or no software-related training
• Control, where you make all the key decisions
• Value, as you spend more time on BCM, less on administration
• Experts, on hand to help you when you need us

INONI provides a range of affordable solutions with scalable packages to fit most organisations. Our integrated platform can deliver all BCMS components including BIA, BCP, Risk Assessment, notification and crisis communications, awareness and ICT DR Planning. We aim to provide software that fits, solutions that work and people you can rely on. Call or email us now for a free demonstration.

Tel UK: 0845 045 1171 or +44 (0) 1189 629 757
www.inoni.co.uk
info@inoni.co.uk

Business Continuity Software Report Entry CIR Magazine July 2010

2010-07-31T08:27:00.000-07:00

The following is our submission to CIR's annual Business Continuity Software Report. This is compiled 'independently' although the report has a very interested sponsor in Sungard. It seems to be delivered fairly though.

The text provides a summary description of INONI and RES and tries to point out the main differences between INONI and the rest (there are many) in language that won't be edited out. Not easy. See what you think. I'll attach a similar version in the next blog entry that was rejected by CIR as 'overt advertorial'!

INONI BCM Pro
Function: Standards-aligned BCMS, BIA, Risk, Crisis Management, BCP, Awareness, Maturity, Supply Chain. Launched 2005. Updated 6 monthly.

INONI BCM Pro is a web-based Business Continuity Management System that is quick to learn and easy to use. It provides whole lifecycle BCM capability that can be scaled to fit all sectors and sizes of business. The software is flexible and can be extensively customised in respect of presentation, operation, structure and content; it is delivered ready-to-use and standards-aligned. It allows preferred or pre-existing methodologies to be implemented.

BCM information is collected via customised dialogues and a flexible import and export capability allows frequently-changing data to be captured and reflected in deliverables. Maintenance is made easier. Access is also provided to libraries of data and system applications such as risk register and crisis event log. Output is delivered online, to MS Office and to PDF; interfaces are provided for notification systems. Deliverables can be rolled-up allowing consolidation by location, by division or for the organisation.

Benchmarking capability allows diverse global information to be captured, mapping BC maturity, staff awareness and supplier compliance with organisational requirements. Risks to business can be modelled online using time-lapse simulation, allowing validation of MTPDs and strategies, quantified impact analysis and identification of single points of failure. Software and BCM training, support and consultancy are available.

Tel UK: 0845 045 1171 or +44 (0) 1189 629 757
www.inoni.co.uk

Risk and BCM

2010-07-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

I do have to declare some support for the AS/NZS 5050 case, since for as long as I can remember I have presented BCM using a Risk Model, now implemented as part of the INONI Business Continuity Software suite. I developed this because it was easily communicable and graphical, allowing clients to calculate complex impacts and also as a means for me to explain why continuity risk is similar to, but not quite the same as other varieties. And it's here that I have a problem; it's all very well taking a risk-based approach to a discipline that clearly falls under risk’s umbrella, provided you tackle any clear discrepancies rather than papering over them.

There are a couple of fundamental questions I’d particularly like to see addressed:

First, it's fine declaring Likelihood as a risk component, but the fact is that BCM deals with super-rare events whose likelihood is vague and for most of us, pretty meaningless. Can you really say by how much a clear desk policy reduces the chance of catastrophic loss? If you can’t do it with some certainty, there’s not much point in assigning it pseudo-scientific status since you simply mislead your audience. How do you interpret the phrase 'hundred-year event' - is it 1 in a 100, a million or a billion? Could you be a factor of 10 or 1000 out for your unique circumstances? Isn't it a case of 'if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it' and - for sure, you can't do reliable math with it.

Second, the other fundamental, Impact. It also seems hard to manage in a systematic way that doesn’t mislead. Unless you are able to reliably estimate the cumulative severity of an event that combines multiple threads of tangible and intangible loss over time during different market and economic conditions, then, when you attempt to arrive at a value, you have no idea whether it will be correct or comparable, again potentially with double-digit error factors. The array of assumptions underpinning any resulting calculation of risk and the resulting diversity of outcomes would do justice to a Lorenz experiment.

The point of this is that there seems to be a discontinuity. To manage BCM on a pure risk basis - a flat extension of ORM - means that reasonable quantification must be able to take place. By all means, plug the gaps you think will yield a return, but please, unless you have reliable figures for your business or sector or area, taking every strength and weakness into account, don’t attempt to combine them numerically and measure the resulting risk with any accuracy. You’ll compound the error and the only near-certainty will be that your decision data is wrong.

My view is that the risk approach works to a point, but that because organisations are so different, blanket stats are of dubious value and mitigative adjustments more so. There are so many uncertain initial conditions for any event we can’t possibly know if our calculations are right or wrong. And what if we rate impact at $1Bn and likelihood at one in a million? Do we keep a $1k sink fund or invest $M in a BC setup? Do we know what it really means? The objective, ultimately, is that we are able to carry on at an acceptable level post-disruption, whether it's likely or not.

So do we really need to include likelihood in the equation when we can't estimate it with certainty? Can we not plan against the worst case set of events to the point where our suitably informed risk appetite says ‘that’s enough’. If we find BP had done the math and accepted the risk, would we excuse them... or should they have planned regardless? I could go on.

INONI : global Business Continuity Software that fits

Made to fit

2010-07-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hi and thanks for visiting the INONI Blog. Hope you find it interesting. If you want to talk about it, please join the conversation via our website www.inoni.co.uk where you'll find a direct link to Twitter.

This post relates to something I've noticed since starting INONI back in 2005, a trend towards normalisation which has positives and negatives in equal measure. I’ve worked as a BCM consultant since 1988 and you’d like to think things have come a long way since then. I remember attending a presentation of the leading software package back in 1992 whilst working for Safetynet, and thinking “how on earth can that work for everyone?” Needless to say, we stuck with MS Office and were very successful.

The point is, everyone (consultants especially) wants to apply their own style, include their own ideas, they want things done their own way, culturally and structurally, and this seems to be the case even now. People want the result to fit the organisation and not the other way around, which feels something like being made to wear an ill-fitting suit, constraining and not quite right.

The emergence of standards is similar in a way. Again, I continually experience firms who want to be ‘aligned’ rather than certified precisely because they want to stay in control and not spend time and money being told that what they want is ‘non-compliant’ (a good example is the creation of the MTPD acronym/variable – amazing how organisations survived before its introduction – I guess we were just lucky). Don’t get me wrong, I think standards have made a big difference, given us a decent scalable skeleton to flesh out in our own way, formalised a process, defined a common language and so on (the battle for language, concept and alignment is only just beginning… watch this space – I give AS/NZS a 50/50 chance).

So has the intellectual challenge been diluted, has the need for innovative thinking been suppressed? Far from it in my view; as organisations’ sensitivity increases and technology advances, our focus can now be 80% on provision of real solutions 20% enabled by the tools and practices that characterised BCM for so long. It's just a change in emphasis.

INONI : global Business Continuity Software that fits