Customer Reviews

Business Continuity: Best Practices

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If, like me, you are in the process of converting to Continuity from another profession, let me recommend this book to you as part of your transition and induction. If you are a novice you will be welcomed at the breakfast table with words of comfort from the author, ...the only way to eat the BC elephant, is one bite at a time.

This book is a practical syllabus. It is presented as such: an orderly, systematic, detailed, comprehensive account of what we need to know and do. In the discipline of Computing, from which I am in transit, Andrew's advice equally applies: start at the beginning. But unlike Computing it does not say ...go on to the end, then stop.. This new adventure wants to take us beyond stopping, so the syllabus accompanies us along the way with practical advice of how to sew the seeds of Continuity around us as we go, at every step.

They say of computer programmers you are as good as the number of tricks you know. It appears similar here. Almost every page reveals insights into the tricks of the BC trade; a cumulation of simple things we instinctively see as being good ideas: like learning to take a look around the neighbourhood before focusing inside. Like having emergency telephone numbers printed at the foot of pay slips taken home. Like taking photographs of physical assets before they disappear.
Like knowing it is still OK to use imagination and creativity to address real problems amid the oceans of prescription and regulation.

There is heavy emphasis throughout on standards. Not least those of DRII and BCI competencies which are disassembled and laid out for us to focus on their components in fine detail. In Project Initiation, the first chapter, the case is clearly made to get everyone on board before we start, especially important to gain support from those at the top. Good advice, yet tempered with realism that of itself this assent is no guarantee of a smooth road ahead. I know this to be well observed, it is true also from where I have just travelled. The interwoven mysteries of Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis are separated out for us and exemplified. Then on to planning and straightaway we see a sample plan to make the theories clear. I can only imagine at this stage that rehearsing the plan will be scary when we know others are enacting what we have helped design. But that's in store. We should certainly aim to steer the business towards rehearsal if we can: one of the many pointers to best practice this book hands out to us, this one helpful to pull all else along.

As a newcomer to BC I'm delighted to have come across this book. I feel somewhat experienced already even from the armchair. I cannot imagine not having this same syllabus to hand for continued reference much further down the line.

Paul Humphreys is Director of Oxford Continuity

Business Continuity: Best Practices
by Andrew Hiles

The Business Continuity: Best Practices book addresses all the professional areas of competencies recommended by the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII) and the Business Continuity Institute (BCI). The DRII and BCI are the largest professional groups establishing industry standards and membership educational requirements on a worldwide basis in the continuity and disaster recovery field.

Business Continuity: Best Practices is designed for use by professionals as well as by interested non-professionals. In fact the book directs the user at a `Practitioner Level' and at a `Foundation Level'. Most business continuity concepts are more practical than technical and the conscientious nonprofessional can utilize this book. The book makes very liberal use of Appendices in every section, thus allowing the serious user to selectively examine specific topics in detail. The casual reader can skip any technical Appendix without losing important concepts.

For the serious reader / plan developer there are numerous tables and checklists that are useful in gathering information and developing the actual Business Continuity Plan. The checklists and tables are very detailed allowing the user to develop a comprehensive plan that does not miss any major points. The book is easy to read and even a non-professional can develop a good plan, especially if a good planning template or actual Business Continuity Plan from a similar business is available as a guide.

In addition to developing a Business Continuity Plan document, Business Continuity: Best Practices addresses ongoing communication, plan implementation, plan activation and all the important aspects of plan development and execution. There is also an excellent section on emergency response and plan operations that provides important guidance during an actual emergency situation. Most importantly, Business Continuity: Best Practices addresses ongoing maintenance and exercise issues so the plan can be properly maintained.

Business Continuity: Best Practices deserves a solid 5-star rating.

Douglas M. Henderson, FSA, CBCP
Disaster Management, Inc.

Considering how there is so much interest these days in "best practices" for just about anything in information technology, we're glad to see an excellent compilation of business continuity best practices. Mr. Hiles has used his years of experience in business and consulting to prepare a highly usable product. Must reading for all BC professionals!