Business continuity – ISO 23001

The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), which developed the document,
outlines how to manage business continuity in an organisation. This standard provides
the best structure for managing business continuity in an organisation.
One aspect that sets this standard apart from other business continuity frameworks and
standards is that a business can obtain certification from a recognised certification
authority, allowing it to demonstrate compliance to stakeholders such as clients, partners,
owners, and customers.

A company can gain the following four important business advantages by implementing
this business continuity standard:
• Complies with legal requirements.
• Achieve marketing advantage.
• Reduce dependence on individuals.
• Prevent large-scale damage.

Any size or type of organisation, whether for-profit or non-profit, public or private, can
profit from ISO 23001. The standard was designed to be used by any size or kind of
organisation.
Any business legally compelled to engage in contingency planning, such as those in the
energy, transportation, health, and key public services sectors should implement and
become certified to ISO 23001.

The goal of ISO 23001 is to guarantee that business operations continue to offer services
and products even in the face of disruptive events. This is accomplished by identifying
the top priorities for business continuity, identifying potential disruptive events that could
impact business operations, specifying what must be done to avoid such events, and
then describing how to resume minimal and regular operations quickly.
As a result, the core principles of ISO 23001 are centred on analysing impacts and
managing risks: identify which activities are more crucial and identify the risks that may
impact them before implementing a systematic risk management strategy.

The ideas and solutions must be put into practice involve technical/physical
implementation, policies, and procedures. Since most organisations do not have all the
necessary equipment, software, and facilities in place, implementing ISO 23001 will
require not only creating the organisational policies necessary to prevent disruptive
incidents but also creating plans and allocating technical and other resources to enable
business operations to continue and recover.
Since managing policies, processes, people, assets, etc. would be necessary for its
implementation, ISO 23001 has outlined how to integrate all of these components into the
business continuity management system.