Certain business risks do also have a potential to disrupt the businesses. When such disruptions take place, the customer’s expectations are compromised, and this is the greatest uncertainty in a supply chain situation where one depends on the IT Service continuity. The newly emerging standard BS 25999 is addressing the very situation and provides a framework for an effective Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) that gives a holistic consideration to the ITSM practice of service continuity that remains restricted to the service delivery aspects and not take into account the entire business risks, which could impact.. Business Continuity is a serious issue for all organizations and the management of business continuity should be an essential element of the entire business.

The ability for an organization to maintain its critical business operations during and following a disruption, as well as the speed at which it is able to re-establish its full functionality, can be the difference between success and failure. Such risks not only include floods, power failures, network outages, terrorism, fire, diseases (e.g SARS) but must also cover others such as strikes, cash flow, employee attrition, competitor’s move amongst others. A properly implemented system would provide greater resilience to disruptions, and improve preparedness and response whenever an organization is faced with the disruption.

Venkataram Arabolu, Managing Director has over 30 years of experience in several fields starting from construction of large oil gas and chemical plants. He has been involved in promoting managements systems in India and the Middle East and helping companies develop their business management. He has been India’s first Lead Auditor for environmental management system certification and also for the automotive industry system certification.He has been a trainer for several systems and presented at many seminars, conclaves in India as well as in other countries.

He has been practicing Risk Assessment and Management for over a decade and has developed a model for Business Risk Assessment that is now attuned to the BS 25999 requirements. Has been in senior management positions for over seven years and have also been part of a business process re-engineering project for own employer’s global processes.