A new respect for Business Continuity

I have known Business Continuity(BC) for a long time but I have always thought of it as an afterthought to Disaster Recovery (DR). That's probably because DR is what we do most of the time in IT.

However, after attending the course BCM-5000 (Implementing and Managing BCM) by BCM Institute this week, I have a new found respect for BC. And the beauty is, you don't have to an IT guy to appreciate it.

One thing I have learned from the course is the importance of having a common language, a singular definition of BC terms. The founder of BCM Institute, Dr. Goh Moh Heng, certainly took the right path producing a BCM (Business Continuity Management) dictionary through its BCMpedia and through its trained and certified professionals, we hope there will be more standardized semantics in the language of BCM.

In fact, Dr. Goh showed me a version of the BCMpedia ready for iPods and iPhones, with the newer version coming out soon. That is just fantastic.

As mentioned, I mentioned I have been involved in BC and DR for many years now, even though it was bits and pieces of it. My first encounter with BC and DR was the implementation of Hock Hua Bank Project in Sibu in 1994. That was a long time ago and the bank no longer exist now. But I recall that I had to write some simple tape handling procedures and what to do should the regional branches were affected.

One of the most interesting DR situation I had encountered was with a manufacturer up north in Penang. The old data center (and the primary one too) was located on the ground floor just above the toilet. In a routine maintenance, someone accidentally punctured a hole in the sewage tank and the content leaked downstairs to the data center. It was a good thing that there was proper BC procedure in place and I had worked with the people to implement a DR plan. The storage contents were replicated 4 times a day to the new data center not too far away. I remembered that I had to drive 4 hours to Penang and be part of the rescue team to ensure that the storage equipment were intact. The cleaning part was definitely not the most pleasant experience.

Over the year, Real Data Matrix has implemented many DR solutions and provide several services to ensure customer's data is protected.

However, in the past year, we are also getting a lot of requests to address the customer from a BC point of view. My Solution Architect will be attending another BC course in October and I think this could be the start of something great.

After the course, I have a new vigour and respect for BCM. The approach and the concepts used in the course have helped me define and organize the thoughts of BC in my mind and I am now able to position BCM better for our customers.

I recommend all to consider BC and I think BCM Institute's approach to BCM is very unique. I passed the electronic exam this morning and intend to get my certification from BCM Institute once my credentials have been qualified.

Have a good weekend!