BCI highlights “significant growth” in operational resilience uptake

Operational resilience has enjoyed considerable attention of late, in the main driven by various regulators in the finance and banking sectors. That said, the BCI’s new report shows significant growth across all industry sectors. More than three-quarters (76.6%) of surveyed organisations report that they have an operational resilience programme in place or are otherwise actively building one. Of these, only 40.6% are banking and finance organisations.

When asked about the reasons for the move to operational resilience, the majority (87.3%) of respondents from the banking and finance sector stated that regulatory requirements are the main motivational factor. When it comes to those representing unregulated organisations, the main reason for implementing operational resilience is ‘for good practice purposes’.

Operational resilience strategy is being led by senior management in most organisations, with the Top Three types of executives taking responsibility for operational resilience being the chief executive officer (22.6%), the executive director (14.3%) and the chief operations officer (12.7%).

Day-to-day responsibility for operational resilience is most often placed with a business continuity manager (20.6%), followed by the head of resilience (11.8%) or a dedicated operational resilience manager (10.6%).

Where are the boundaries?

The report identifies significant differences in opinion among professionals about how operational resilience and business continuity fit together, with 42% of respondents stating that business continuity and operational resilience are synonymous within their organisations, while 45.6% suggest that there’s an overlap between business continuity and operational resilience, but the differences have not been clearly defined as yet.

Overall, 66.5% of respondents consider that business continuity is a part of operational resilience. However, a majority (58.3%) of respondents outside the banking sector believe that business continuity is all their organisation currently needs.

Having operational resilience at the heart of an organisation’s culture is essential for ensuring true adherence to Best Practice, but this is also the foremost challenge identified by respondents. 52.4% said that: ‘Embedding operational resilience into the fabric of the organisation’ was a major issue, followed closely by: ‘Not having the headcount and/or staff time to implement a realistic policy’ at 50.9%. Organisations are struggling to attract individuals with specific knowledge or operational resilience experience.

These challenges were followed by two tactical difficulties: ‘Understanding, monitoring and managing supply chain risks’ (37.9%) and ‘Addressing legacy infrastructure’ (35.9%).

Advances being made

Commenting on the report and its contents, Rachael Elliott (head of thought leadership at the BCI) stated: “The survey results clearly show advances made in the uptake of operational resilience around the world. It’s interesting to see that it seems to be being perceived by many as a Best Practice with which even non-regulated organisations should comply.”

According to Elliott, the positioning of operational resilience and business continuity remains fluid. “The BCI is looking forward to facilitating the debate about this and helping to provide the clarity that the profession needs.”

Brian Zawada (vice-president of strategy and innovation at report sponsor Riskonnect) added: “This important survey aligns with what I’m seeing and experiencing every day, which is the use of operational resilience concepts becoming more mainstream, both within and outside of financial services globally. Regardless of how an organisation or professional defines business continuity or operational resilience, it’s fantastic to see its adoption and maturity increase for the benefit of the market, customers and organisations.”