When five years ago Deloitte &Touche LLP and CPM Global Assurance began to survey business continuity professionals about their enterprise-wide continuity and crisis planning, just 30% of respondents had plans in place. In current survey results just issued, more than half of all respondents not only have crisis management and emergency response plans and teams in place, but they test them at least once a year.
Here are four reasons, according to the survey, why some companies lack the initiative to implement such programs:
• They lack a senior-level business continuity management champion that can influence both the company’s culture and financial resources.
• Business units are reluctant to spend the time and money to implement “optional” programs.
• Creating an enterprise-wide business crisis management program can seem overwhelming to many organizations that are already resource-constrained.
• Corporate executives may operate under the belief that “it will never happen to our organization.”
Ted DeZabala, principal and national security services leader of Deloitte & Touche notes that, “In our evolving business environment, business continuity plans which include crisis management and emergency preparedness, are an absolute imperative. Companies that address business continuity from an enterprise management perspective reduce the impact of a variety of interruptions that can hinder any organization.”
