Analysis Shows Organizations Prepared to Respond, Implementing Resiliency Initiatives as Next Step
Annapolis, Maryland - July 15, 2008
iJET Intelligent Risk Systems, a leading provider of global intelligence and business resiliency services, today announced the publication of the “2008 Business Resiliency Survey Results: An insiders’ look at the current state of risk management, continuity and resiliency in multinational organizations” report. The survey, conducted by iJET International, Inc., drew responses from more than 600 executives in primarily large multinational organizations about the risk management and resiliency plans and practices in their organizations. Representing a diverse industry set, 65 percent of respondents work in organizations with more than $1 billion annual revenue.
According to the report, most organizations are prepared to respond to disruptions. Almost all survey participants had some type of disaster recovery or business continuity plan in place. A significant number (41 percent) also have a plan for business resiliency, defined as the ability to rapidly adapt and respond to risks and opportunities in order to maintain continuity of business operations, remain a trusted partner and enable growth.
“Overall, this study confirms that organizations are starting to adopt resilient approaches to managing business disruptions,” said Steve Hoffman, iJET’s CEO. “As multinational organizations coordinate their efforts within and across their extended enterprises, they are adapting and responding to risks not only by maintaining operations but also by enabling growth. That is the core benefit of business resiliency and our survey shows that this approach is gaining traction in the global marketplace.”
Most organizations are turning to business resiliency plans to protect individual employees and business operations as well as to protect the organization’s reputation and brand. Continuity of operations and brand protection were identified as the top two concerns when organizations did not having a resiliency plan in place, followed by loss of revenue. Senior executives and the boards of directors have the most internal influence on instilling resiliency processes and plans.
But results show that it’s not just company leadership driving resiliency efforts; customers also play a significant role and were cited by 49 percent of respondents as a reason to create and maintain resiliency plans. Results suggest that as resiliency initiatives become more widespread, customers will likely have higher expectations and make greater demands for organizations to be resilient.
Other key findings of the survey include:
- Most organizations have established response plans; some are also building resiliency plans. The majority of respondents (84 percent) have an emergency response plan in place; 83 percent have a business continuity plan; 71 percent have a disaster recovery plan; 58 percent have an enterprise risk management plan; and 41 percent have a business resiliency plan.
- Planning pays off, with the majority of respondents activating a plan during a disruption or crisis in the past year. Of the 88 percent of participants whose organizations have either a continuity or resiliency plan in place, half activated the plan at least once in the last year and 11 percent activated the plan more than three times during the past year.
- Resiliency requires preparation for a wide range of risks. Almost half (47 percent) the organizations track health and infectious diseases when monitoring potential external threats to business, 45 percent track terrorism and 41 percent track weather and environment.
- Various levels of organizational leadership view the state of resiliency within their organizations differently. Corporate officers identified senior executives as the lead for resiliency oversight and implementation 63 percent of the time, while only 10 percent of directors and five percent of managers agree. Instead, non-executives identify themselves as the owners of resiliency efforts.
To download the full report, please visit: www.ijet.com/news/whitepapers/index.asp.
