If business continuity is the immediate plan to ensure that a business is able to continue providing services and survive, then operational 弹性 is the larger strategy that business continuity supports. Just about every organization has a business continuity plan, 如果他们在2020年之前没有, 他们现在当然有了.
While business continuity plans serve as an important backstop in the event of an unplanned incident or emergency, it is actually just the beginning of a set of best practices that ultimately lead to operational 弹性.
把业务连续性想象成一个中心点, radiating out in concentric circles toward achieving full operational 弹性. Each step detailed below is one of those rings in an organization’s journey to achieving operational 弹性.
1. 实现集成
弹性是最新的“R词”. First there was recovery (which is essential for business continuity); then there was resumption; and now, 弹性. Each iteration has matured to encompass and integrate more strategic considerations, moving from being simply a set of actions to representing a new mindset.
作为适应能力进化的一部分, a key metric of success is integration – bringing together what were previously siloed functions into one, 全面的观点.
毕竟, businesses today have to safeguard against a wide range of technical, social, financial and natural disruptions which can impact everything from the availability of technology, 给员工, supplies, 甚至是时间. 有整体的和综合的观点, 把所有这些区域放在一起看, is paramount to ultimately delivering operational 弹性. 公司必须考虑关键流程, 它们是如何相互作用的, and a holistic approach to moving these processes forward together.
2. 拥有正确的“地图”
虽然没有什么神奇的指标, there are three important “maps” that must be in place to get a firm closer to achieving operational 弹性: operational processes; critical assets, including their location and how they support operational processes; and an understanding of supply chain implications. 在这些地图中, 你已经确定了你的关键基础设施, 你的人民, 你的供应商以及他们如何相互支持.
A map of operational processes enables you to see all the cogs that make up process flows, and where asset dependencies and relationships lie. This can help identify which processes are critical, 什么输入会影响这些过程, 以及这些过程如何相互影响.
说到人, recent events have prioritized the ability to operate anywhere, 而不是分布在某个地方. 例如, having regional operational centers away from headquarters was once considered best practice. There was – and still is – a philosophy that no single event should be able to impact the organization, so the “out-of-region” approach became a core tenet.
在COVID-19大流行期间, however, organizations realized there was no way to redirect activity to other regions, 因为所有地点都受到了同样的影响. The lesson here is that it is now more useful to arm people with the right tools and resources, 让他们成为自己的运营中心.
最后, 换句话说就是供应链管理, 识别您的外部依赖, determining how far down the supply chain you want to manage and set your risk tolerance. Typically, firms are only able to manage as far as two degrees of separation. Managing a catalog of third parties much past that can become unwieldy.
3. 管理内部和外部环境
While business continuity focuses exclusively on the firm itself, its evolution to 弹性 means that it is equally concerned with internal factors as with external influences. 一个有弹性的公司, in fact, especially cognizant of its role in its industry ecosystem, and understands the spillover effects that one institution can have on another.
The broader industry ecosystem has its own interconnections and dependencies, 我们必须从整体上看待它. It’s important to consider not only employees and customers, 还有供应商, 监管机构, 行业vnsr威尼斯城官网登入, 以及其他合作伙伴. 此外, in the same way that some processes are more critical to resiliency than others, 一些外部关系, 比如那些有监管机构的公司, 特别重要, as they can have a significant impact on the firm.
In order to organize internal and external factors within a 弹性 framework, organizations can utilize maturity models that incorporate a number of weighted measurements covering factors including planning, people, 治理, 技术和报告. They can also look at 弹性 on different levels, from product, to legal, to enterprise. This becomes a visual representation of 弹性 for the firm, cutting across levels and factors.
Operational 弹性 transcends discrete disciplines. It exists as a holistic and strategic framework that is embedded across an entire organization. This supports a better integration of functions, 使用合适的操作地图, and the effective management of both internal and external factors. Examining business processes through such a comprehensive lens is essential for firms looking to shift from continuity to ongoing 弹性, which will allow them to better adapt – and continuously evolve – in the face of external change.
This article first appeared in GARP Risk Intelligence on April 9, 2021.