Organisational Resilience – An update on developments
Much has recently been written about operational resilience and the impact of the new UK financial sector regulations upon those organisations that work in that sector. However, that commentary and the associated developments should be placed in the wider context of organisational resilience.
The British Standard’s Institute (BSI) published the BS 65000 “Guidance on Organizational Resilience” standard back in November 2014.
That standard was subject to its periodic review, and it is now nearing the end of the revision and updating phase. The draft for the public comment stage of the standard closed on the 17 April 2022. A comment resolution process will follow the commenting period and the updated standard is on track to be published later in 2022.
All national and international standards are subject to a periodic review after publication, which usually occurs at 5 years after the publication point, but the review and updating process of BS 65000 was slightly delayed by global events, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the timing of the review for BS 65000 was most apposite because those global events highlighted some of the gaps and challenges in existing standards and thinking. For example, during the global pandemic, some commentators highlighted the clear limitations in existing business continuity standards that set out the aims of delivering products and services at acceptable levels in that crisis. Attempting to deliver products and services at acceptable levels, when an organisation has been prohibited from working by legislation or lockdowns, requires new thinking and approaches. Consequently, many organisations employed crisis management approaches to the challenges created by the pandemic rather than trying to adapt existing business continuity plans.
The lessons identified from the pandemic, have been incorporated into the updated version of BS 65000.
Also, the understanding and thinking aspects around organisational resilience have evolved since 2014 on both the practical and academic fronts. The most noticeable development in this area has been the narrowing of the gap between the academic theories and practical implementations, with the outcome of recognizable, repeatable, and proven good practices.
Read more in our series on organisational resilience:
New and improved BS 65000 – with added resilience! >>
If you would like to know more and how we are assisting our clients in adjusting to the new standard, please contact us at info@xcinaconsulting.com.