Business Continuity Management For The Utility Sector
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Regulation SCI requires that each SCI entity designate members and participants to take part in an annual business continuity and disaster recovery plan test, and SIFMA facilitates a coordinated testing program for the industry as part of our business continuity planning and disaster recovery work. Reg SCI entities completed their testing requirements in parallel with the SIFMA industry test.
FINRA provides the following optional tools to assist firms in in fulfilling their need to create and maintain business continuity plans (BCPs) and emergency contact person lists under FINRA Rule 4370.
FINRA's BCP specifies how we will respond to events that significantly disrupt our business and addresses safeguarding our employees and property; insuring data back up and recovery; restoring mission-critical systems as well as critical regulatory and operational activities; alternative communications with investors, member firms, associated persons, and other regulators; and assuring all of our constituents a prompt response to their needs. We plan to continue in business, transfer operations to alternate sites as needed, and maintain as much transparency to our constituents as possible during a disruption. FINRA's business continuity plan is updated and tested regularly, and it is provided to the SEC as part of its oversight of FINRA.
The BCI has designed a short, self-paced eLearning course that will help you understand the importance of business continuity and get you starting to think about the incidents that might impact your own organization and what you can do to mitigate them. This short course takes up to 30 minutes to complete.
The growth is primarily ascribed to the surging dependence on digitization, integration of cutting-edge technology, increasing IT spending, growing adoption of business continuity solutions in SMEs, and rising operational risks in organizations.
The solutions category held the larger revenue share in 2022 and it is expected to maintain its dominance during the projection period. The growth is mainly attributed to the increasing deployment of BCM solutions for risk management, crisis management, and audit management. Additionally, the promptly changing corporate environments and the development of data recovery or risk management solutions will drive the business continuity management market.
The large enterprise category accounted for the larger revenue share of 75% in 2022 and will remain the same during the forecast period. This is attributed to the capacity of large enterprises to make considerable IT investments, to deploy and enhance their business continuity plans. In addition, large enterprises have dispersed operations and massive amounts of vital enterprise data. Therefore, they are compelled to incorporate efficient business continuity plans to maintain operations.
The BFSI category is predicted to lead the largest share in the future years. The need for BCM in the financial services industry is of utmost importance, as these institutions need to be well prepared to respond in times of emergencies, crisis, disaster, threats, and other incidents. In addition, banks have a complex and detailed infrastructure that requires to be fully operational 24X7, which entails that their ATMs, website, and phone applications are all up and running. A business continuity strategy is needed to resolve the issue as quickly as possible in case the system goes down.
Additionally, SMEs generally rely on limited resources for both, safeguarding their operations and solutions that generate revenue for the enterprise; this factor creates a high demand for SMEs to adopt BCM. Also, there has been increasing pressure from larger organizations (such as Microsoft Corporation and Hewlett Packard Company) to secure the continuity of supply chains, new government laws, and adoption of BCM solutions. This is increasingly compelling SMEs to add BCM as a part of mainstream business operations.
Organizations with complex business operations are witnessing increasing operational risks, driven by growing economic uncertainties, stiff regulatory fines, and compliances, along with emerging risks, such as conduct risk, model risk, vendor risk, and cybersecurity risk. Moreover, such organizations are demanding robust risk mitigation, real-time risk assessment, and greater risk accountability from management and business lines. Additionally, with financial service institutions increasingly expanding their businesses, the requirement to process accountability and transparency, coupled with ensuring proactive risk mitigation is surging the demand for BCM solutions, across the globe.
The growth of the market is primarily ascribed to the integration of cutting-edge technology, surging dependence on digitization, growing adoption of business continuity solutions in SMEs, and increasing IT spending.
In an emergency, where utilities are disrupted, power & utility organizations have a strong track record of being prepared and equipped for rapid response to restore power to businesses and homes quickly.
It is critical that power & utility firms have strong emergency & crisis management plans, business continuity plans for their critical operations, and disaster recovery plans for their information technology & operational technology infrastructure.
In addition to a robust annual cycle of planning, training, and exercises, power & utility companies should seek and maintain strong partnerships with federal, state, county, and local emergency management and other governmental agencies to ensure that they can respond rapidly and effectively to any event.
When business is disrupted, it can cost money. Lost revenues plus extra expenses means reduced profits. Insurance does not cover all costs and cannot replace customers that defect to the competition. A business continuity plan to continue business is essential. Development of a business continuity plan includes four steps:
Business continuity impact analysis identifies the effects resulting from disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.
Strategies may involve contracting with third parties, entering into partnership or reciprocal agreements or displacing other activities within the company. Staff with in-depth knowledge of business functions and processes are in the best position to determine what will work. Possible alternatives should be explored and presented to management for approval and to decide how much to spend.
There are many vendors that support business continuity and information technology recovery strategies. External suppliers can provide a full business environment including office space and live data centers ready to be occupied. Other options include provision of technology equipped office trailers, replacement machinery and other equipment. The availability and cost of these options can be affected when a regional disaster results in competition for these resources.
Therefore, water and sanitation utilities require a new strategic management approach to provide WSS quality services that ensure continuity of operations, encourage continuous improvement, develop strategic capabilities, and create efficient and sustainable strategic business models.
On the apex of the pyramid is service to customers is the ultimate objective, which clearly depends on technical and commercial operations, though not exclusively so. Other elements of sound utility management are organization and strategy, human resource management, and financial management. Together, these elements promote effective and efficient commercial and technical operations, while the legal framework and governance in which the utility operates shape its enabling environment.
In a rapidly changing world, success depends on more than these operational, managerial, and governance factors. As shown by the orange circle surrounding the pyramid, a UoF is also characterized by its innovation (introducing novel methods); inclusion (improving the ability and opportunity of people, disadvantaged on the basis of their identity, to take part in society, and thus boosting their dignity); market and customer orientation (operating like a firm in a competitive market); and resilience and business continuity (having the capacity to prepare for disruptions, to recover from shocks and stresses, and to adapt and grow from a disruptive experience).
Strategic vision and long-term action plan: It is important that a utility define (or update) its strategic framework, vision, mission, values, and strategic objectives to define the business plan, incorporating those actions to be implemented in the long term (5 years).
The standard was developed by DEWA in cooperation with BSI and gives guidance on the implementation of enterprise risk and resilience management (ERRM) for electricity, gas, water and wastewater utilities of all sizes in the public and private sectors around the world.
Business continuity can be defined as 'the processes, procedures, decisions and activities to ensure that an organization can continue to function through an operational interruption'. Read more about the basics of business continuity here.
Although there are some events such as extreme weather or a pandemic which could affect any business, there are some cases of disruption which are specific to one particular industry. In this article we will investigate the kind of factors which might affect operations within the energy sector, and how Business Continuity Planning (BCP) can be considered to minimise negative impact within each factor.
The leader in business continuity education and certification across many industries, DRI International offers team training designed to fit the needs of every organization, from private corporations to the public sector and everywhere in-between.
DRI International offers colleges and universities the opportunity to familiariz