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Three times the continuity
28 Jan 2008
Topics: Business continuity, BS 25999, Japan, USA, Americas
BSI Management Systems held three global Business Continuity launch events in London, New York and Tokyo on October 30. The events showcased BS 25999, the Business Continuity Management (BCM) standard and BSI's related training and certification services. And with 500 delegates in the UK, 190 in Japan and 140 in the US, it was an unqualified success.
The first event was in Tokyo and began with a welcome message by Alexandre Meerson, BSI Group's e-business director, at the Tokyo International Forum and was followed with a keynote presentation from well-known risk and business continuity expert, Atsuyuki Sassa, to be followed later by Takeshi Ito, former head of BCM at Fujitsu, and Masamichi Shinohara of Inter-Risk Souken, a BCI Japan director. Feedback from the event was very positive with 92 per cent of delegates wanting more information and almost 40 per cent of delegates expressing an interest in their company being certified to BS 25999-2.
In London, the opening address was given by Mike Low, director of BSI British Standards, before handing over to BBC presenter and Daily Telegraph journalist Mike Ruddle, who compèred the UK-arm of the three-part launch.
They were joined by Bruce Mann (pictured left), the UK government's head of civil contingencies, who supported BS 25999 as well as BSI's efforts to promote the standard.
The final part of the launch took place in New York and saw an introductory speech from Flemming Norklit, managing director of BSI Management Systems, as well as presentations from Jim Caverly, a director at the Department of Homeland Security, and John Beattie, global business continuity director of News Corporation. Caverly spoke positively about what BS 25999 can achieve for both the private and public sectors. The US event was hosted by Paul Kurtz, President Clinton's former personal aide in national security matters, who later became Director of Cyber Security at the White House.
One month after the launch events, TDG plc and SunGard Availability Services (UK) Limited were both certified BS 25999-2 compliant by BSI on the same day that the standard was fully published. Both companies, believed to be the first in the world to be certified to BS 25999-2, assessed their business continuity management system (BCMS) against the draft of BS 25999-2 (the Specification) in the summer of 2007.
According to Simon Beesley of TDG, UK-owned European supply chain specialist: "Our major clients have long insisted that we prove we have solid plans in place to provide business continuity and thus assurance of supply. Now that we have BSI's certificate, proving that fact is significantly easier. We will now be insisting on it from our suppliers and expect it to be widely adopted throughout our industry."
"BS 25999 can not only help organizations become more resilient, but more agile and competitive as well," says Keith Tilley, managing director UK and senior vice-president for Europe with SunGard Availability Services. "Certification against the standard not only demonstrates our commitment to best practice to customers, it also provides us with insight into the issues and challenges that certification may present."
For more information on certification:www.bsigroup.com/jan08BCMcert
Business Standards © 2010. Editorial produced by Caspian Publishing in association with The British Standards Institution. Editorial opinions expressed on are not necessarily those of BSI Group or Caspian Publishing. Neither Caspian Publishing nor BSI Group accept responsibility for advertising or editorial content, nor for that appearing on linked third-party websites. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden without written permission from BSI Group or Caspian Publishing.
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