Faced With New Challenges, BCP Continues to Evolve
About a decade ago the primary business continuity planning (BCP) focus was Y2K, a global initiative with well-defined benchmarks and a hard deadline for systems migration. By contrast, the events of Sept. 11, 2001 saw lives and physical structures at risk as well as data and networks. Four years later the fires of 9-11 were replaced by the floods of Hurricane Katrina. And in 2006, BCP specialists turned their attention to a potential Avian flu pandemic.
Reacting to a multitude of threats and scenarios, BCP has had to expand its reach. "BCP professionals traditionally concentrated on making sure that the systems themselves are available," says J.R. Reagan, VP and managing director of global risk, compliance and security at consultancy BearingPoint. "Then they swung over to being process-oriented. The events themselves really run the gamut from events in nature, such as pandemics, to man-made crises like the current one on Wall Street."
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