The UK-based Business Continuity Institute (BCI) brings out several reports over each year, that members and non-members alike can download freely once you register. A further report from the BCI newly out is a review of the year.
Rachael Elliott, head of thought leadership at the BCI, points to three themes. One in a word is technology, ‘both advantageous and disadvantageous to organisational resilience’ and above all use of artificial intelligence (AI). Secondly, after years of practitioners and senior management responding to the covid-19 pandemic, she points to ‘early signs that apathy is creeping in to operational and strategic resilience planning’. Finally, she looks at what she terms the ‘human side of resilience’. This fits in with the other themes as AI might help employees use their time more effectively; and ‘human error is the entry point for the majority of cyber-attacks and regular training and penetration testing is crucial to shore up security’.
The report asks: are senior management at risk of becoming too wrapped up in concerns about cybercrime and neglecting other key threats? For some areas, such as supply chain risk, this does appear to be true, she writes. “While some organisations have increased the resilience of their supply chains and continually look to improve it further as a result of failures during covid-19, other professionals report that this much needed attention is now being diverted to other areas (such as cyber security) and cracks are starting to appear again as new risks, such as global conflict, are emerging. Proactively scanning the supplier landscape for threats, entering into close relationships with critical suppliers to get early warning of risks deeper into the supply chain, and ensuring that due diligence is carried out on new suppliers pre-contract is good practice that should always be adhered to.”
As for the report in more detail, it suggests that a genuinely resilient organisation relies on the collective contribution and collaboration of the most senior leaders. As for what concerns those seniors, ‘cyber security has emerged as the foremost concern for senior management in 2024’, and over the medium to long term. “The anticipated focus of senior leadership on cyber resilience in 2024 is driven by several factors, including the increasing frequency of cyber-attacks, the heightened complexity and sophistication of attacks, how technology-dependent organisations are today, and the multi-faceted strategic consequences associated with a successful attack,” whether financial or reputational.
The sponsor of the ‘A year in the world of resilience’ report is software firm Riskonnect.
Next comes the EMEA online launch of the BCI’s emergency and crisis communications report on February 13. You can apply to join the webinar on this link.
