Organizations of all types are coming out of the pandemic wary of their ability to respond to a crisis like COVID-19 created. The interconnected nature of the business was exposed as the pandemic impacted every corner of the globe for over a year, and which continues to this day. Some change to business continuity management and disaster recovery services has been made a priority almost everywhere due to the impact of this one extended event.
In Gartner’s report, Predicts 2021: Organizational Resilience, Vice President Analyst Roberta Witty, who focuses on business continuity management and organizational resilience, put forth the following strategic planning assumption: “By 2025, 75% of BCM program ecosystem solution purchases will be suite solutions, up from 15% in 2020.”
Witty describes the concept of a suite solution by sharing how firms are now more intently looking to identify future events before they become a full-blown crisis. According to the Gartner analyst, making this mindset a reality will require enterprise-wide awareness of the business continuity management (BCM) program that will take the following into account:
- All parts of the organization are included
- Knowledge of mission-critical business processes and resources are well documented
- Interconnected business processes and the resources they depend on are identified
- Continuous hazard/threat monitoring is in place
Ultimately, this reveals the core need in one suite solution to combine the visualization of organizational threats and the organization’s resources that make the business work with all aspects of business continuity management program development, including planning, hazard/threat monitoring, and execution.
This blend of understanding the organization, knowing what is most important to customers and to business operations, understanding the risks, planning and testing a response, and ultimately monitoring and responding to threats in real-time is the integrated recipe for success in which Gartner is seeing much greater interest since the pandemic began. Inquiries more than doubled in business continuity management program management systems in the first 10 months of 2020. Of course, business continuity management program solutions have been promoting this integrated message for some time. The pandemic has caused the world to accelerate the pace of change toward the best business continuity management solutions.
The desire for a siloed planning tool leveraged by a small business continuity team has likely seen its days finally numbered as more organizations look to leverage their business continuity investment as an organization-wide, integrated risk management effort. Witty recommends establishing a cross-functional steering committee to govern business continuity management for the entire organization. She also suggests reviewing the capabilities of current solutions that are already in-house to determine if they are capable of supporting the organization-wide use cases that are gaining momentum.
At Fusion, we have a solution that will serve as your north star for resilience and which aligns with Gartner’s vision for the future. Leading firms in financial services, for example, are evaluating how to meet new operational resilience standards. They understand the need to integrate data across the organization and flex to any resilience need now and in the future. By breaking down silos, they are gaining visibility into how things operate, which they can then leverage to be more agile by using one system that allows putting the knowledge into action.
Read other strategic planning assumptions from Gartner by downloading the full report, Predicts 2021: Organizational Resilience, by clicking the “Download Full Report” button below.
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References: Predicts 2021: Organizational Resilience, Published 4 January 2021 – ID G00735230, Gartner.
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