Business Continuity and Risk Management: Essentials of Organizational Resilience
By Kurt Engemann & Douglas Henderson
I recently had the pleasure of reviewing a textbook which is a state-of-the-art summation of the current global body of knowledge for Business Continuity Management (BCM), including current international standards and best practices. The book is designed to be used as part of a college-level course or as a desk reference guide, or resource for your in-house team.
The book is written in a traditional modular design which allows the reader to explore each chapter as a stand-alone unit, and then follow the after-chapter Q&A and case study questions. The first ten chapters cover the fundamental principles and practices of business continuity, and give the reader a good command of the terminology and definitions. (A constant source of debate in our profession.) The authors blend the how?s and the why?s along with the industry standards and recommended best practices to offer a solid functional background to the reader.
Three chapters delve into greater detail on Information Technology / Disaster Recovery and Emergency Management. Many in-house programs choose to segment these functional areas into totally separate business units and departments within the organization. Therefore this book allows the reader to understand the inter-relationships between business continuity ? risk management ? emergency management ? disaster recovery, but then follow the standards and corporate culture which are in-place within their own organization. Since this book was written in 2011, the reader will find an excellent chapter on the importance of crisis communications including the role of social media in their communications plans.
The final four chapters detail the role of enterprise risk management for those readers who wish a stronger foundation in statistical modeling, and how to conduct and score a risk assessment (also known as a Hazards & Vulnerabilities Assessment).
The authors present case studies for two different organizations (an investment services firm and a widget manufacturing company), and then integrates those case studies throughout the text to demonstrate how the material would be used in a real world setting. The end-of-chapter questions ask the user to put themselves into the role of a contingency planner for one of the two organizations, and then apply what was learned in the previous section. That?s a nice touch which gives the reader the preferred blend of academic knowledge and functional experience.
Both The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) and the Institute of Risk Management (IRM) have endorsed the book, and it makes a terrific study guide for their certification programs.
A great book for educators, students, and practitioners. The material is fresh, topical, and presented in an easy-to-read and understand format. Add this one to your personal library!
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