The BCI has issued a positioning statement, which has been produced and ratified by its board, which aims to ‘add clarity regarding the position of business continuity in the context of organizational resilience’. The statement also provides the BCI’s perspective on how the development of resilience concepts may impact on the practice of business continuity.
The BCI hopes that the statement ‘helps to move forward the future development of organizational resilience concepts, beyond definitional debates, towards a collaborative understanding between participants across many management disciplines’.
The key points of the statement are:
- Business continuity is not the same as organizational resilience.
- The effective enhancement of organizational resilience will require a collaborative effort between many management disciplines.
- No single management discipline or member association can credibly claim ‘ownership’ of organizational resilience, and organizational resilience cannot be described as a subset of another management discipline or standard.
- Business continuity principles and practices are an essential contribution for an organization seeking to develop and enhance effective resilience capabilities.
- The wide range of activities required to develop and enhance organizational resilience capabilities provide an opportunity for business continuity practitioners to broaden their skills and knowledge, building on the foundation of their business continuity experience and credentials.
- The BCI, working with related partners and industry groups where appropriate, will develop relevant knowledge resources and training to support members who wish to advance their organizational resilience knowledge and skills.