| back | Thinking about Tomorrow: The Business Continuity Guide "Selling Business Continuity within the Corporation" Dan
Derby, Principal
CHAPTER ONE: Barriers to Beginning
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Upper management commitment is essential for a successful business continuity program. Getting it is not trivial. This note recommends "thinking like the CEO" when proposing a plan so your point of view and vocabulary match the interests of your "buyers". It further recommends three focus areas that will get attention: (1) What exposures could impact your corporation's ongoing survival?; (2) What could stall major new business imitative(s)?; (3) What could cause a serious loss of customer "goodwill"? BARRIERS TO BEGINNING Everyone agrees that upper management commitment is key to a successful business continuity program. No one mentions that getting that support is one of the biggest challenges you'll face. It's the forgotten chapter in most "how to" texts on business continuity and the missing link in most certification courses. While business continuity is the low cost alternative to ad libbing through a disaster, even simple plans is not cheap. It doesn't generate revenue, there's no glamour in doing it and it rarely appears in executive goal lists. Even IT disaster recovery planning can be a challenge to get funding for. The people who make funding decisions are very focused and it's generally hard to get their attention. So if you are trying to push this particular rock up hill, you need to get the attention of at least a couple layers of key upper management. Here's some suggestions on how to do that.
NEXT: THE FIRST STEP |
