Business Continuity Management (BCM)
Ensuring Critical Business Operations Continue During Disruptions
Cyberattacks, supplier failures, and technology outages can disrupt business operations within minutes. At the same time, regulators, customers, and business partners increasingly expect organizations to demonstrate operational resilience and effective management of disruption-related risks. Business Continuity Management (BCM) helps organizations assess risks, understand critical dependencies, and prepare for disruptive events in a structured manner. By doing so, organizations can reduce downtime, minimize operational impact, and strengthen resilience.
BCM goes far beyond emergency response plans. It brings together operational resilience, information security, crisis management, IT Service Continuity Management (ITSCM), and regulatory compliance. We have supported organizations at these intersections for many years.
BCM as the Foundation of Operational Resilience
An effective BCM program establishes the organizational capabilities required to respond to disruptions in a structured manner and minimize their impact on the business. A key objective is to identify the business processes that are most critical to organizational success, understand the resources and dependencies that support them, and assess the consequences of an outage. Based on this understanding, organizations can define recovery requirements, develop continuity strategies, establish Recovery Time Objectives, and assign responsibilities for crisis situations.
At the same time, a Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) helps organizations systematically implement and demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements and standards such as DORA, NIS-2, and ISO 27001.
Our experience shows that BCM delivers the greatest value when it is not treated as a stand-alone discipline but is closely integrated with information security, ITSCM, crisis management, and regulatory compliance initiatives.
BCM and ITSCM: What Is the Difference?
Business Continuity Management focuses on maintaining critical business operations from an organizational perspective. It addresses business processes, personnel, third-party providers, facilities, and other critical resources required to sustain operations during a disruption.
IT Service Continuity Management complements this approach by focusing on the recovery of IT services and supporting technologies. The two disciplines are closely linked: ITSCM ensures technical resilience, while BCM ensures that critical business operations can continue at an acceptable level during and after a disruption.
Business Continuity Management Services at usd AG
We do not view BCM as merely a compliance exercise. Drawing on our expertise in information security, regulatory requirements, and real-world cyberattack scenarios, we help organizations establish and continuously improve effective BCM capabilities.
BCM Gap Analysis and Scoping
We assess your existing BCM capabilities and organizational context, identify improvement opportunities, and evaluate your current maturity level. You gain a clear understanding of your current state and receive a prioritized roadmap for further development. Our assessments are aligned with the requirements relevant to your organization, including internal policies, ISO 22301, DORA, and NIS-2.
BCM Strategy and Business Continuity Planning
We support organizations in establishing or enhancing a BCMS aligned with ISO 22301. Our services include the development of BCM policies, governance structures, roles and responsibilities, Business Continuity Plans, crisis communication frameworks, continuity strategies, and recovery procedures.
Depending on your organization's needs, we also support the implementation of a reactive BCMS based on BSI Standard 200-4. This approach is particularly suitable for organizations seeking to establish effective response capabilities quickly and pragmatically without immediately implementing a fully developed BCMS with comprehensive analyses.
Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and Risk Management
The Business Impact Analysis, together with risk management, forms a core component of an effective BCMS. We develop organization-specific methodologies and practical tools for analyzing time-critical business processes, identifying dependencies, assessing the potential impact of disruptions, and defining recovery requirements and recovery objectives. This establishes a solid foundation for informed decision-making, continuity strategies, and effective BCM measures.
Exercises and Testing
We help organizations validate the effectiveness of their BCM capabilities through crisis management exercises, tabletop exercises, and technical recovery tests. Our support covers the entire lifecycle, from exercise design and scenario development to facilitation, execution, and lessons-learned reviews. This enables organizations to build confidence in their preparedness and continuously improve their response capabilities.
Internal BCMS Audits
We assess the effectiveness of your ISO 22301-certified BCMS, identify opportunities for improvement, and support your preparation for internal and external audits.
Red Team Assessments as a Realistic Stress Test
Our experience in Red Teaming allows us to evaluate BCM capabilities not only from a process perspective but also against realistic cyberattack scenarios. This approach helps determine whether continuity procedures, communication channels, crisis management processes, and recovery capabilities will perform effectively under real-world conditions. It also identifies opportunities to further strengthen organizational resilience.
