Business Continuity Awareness Week (BCAW) 2013 – BC for the risks you can see and the ones you can’t

Donna Monkhouse, Your BC Eye

Business Continuity Awareness Week (BCAW) 2013 – BC for the risks you can see and the ones you can’t
 

18^th to 22^nd March 2013
 

The theme

In today’s world of economic, social and political uncertainty, organizations are confronted with an ever-increasing range of risks to deal with. But there are risks we can see and then there are those we can’t, the so-called “black swans” that swim up on us from nowhere, the high-profile, high-impact, hard-to-predict and rare events. Now more than ever, organizations are looking for a solution to help them manage both types of risk.  That solution is Business Continuity (BC).

But what is BCAW?

BCAW is an annual global event that is facilitated by the BCI and is a key vehicle in raising the awareness of BC as well as showcasing its value as an integrated part of every organization’s strategy.  Every year we select an over-arching theme based on our Members feedback and then build upon this throughout the week.  This year’s theme is Business Continuity for the risks you can see and the ones you can’t.

BCAW provides newcomers to the discipline a wide range of exciting opportunities to experience first-hand how business continuity can benefit their own organization and allow them to take away some practical insights and useful information (and new connections) that will not only transform the way they will deal with known and unknown risks and threats, but could be a life-changing experience that might even give birth to a whole new career.

Equally, BCAW provides BC professionals with a free ‘education’ platform to continue their good work as ambassadors for the discipline, including a wide range of tools and ideas to increase awareness; strengthen understanding and develop ownership for BC within their own or clients’ organizations.

BCAW provides access to an extensive range of high-quality, multi-media resources, including free-to-join webinars on a wide range of BC related topics; live Q&A panels; local events; latest research reports and case studies; as well as some great hands-on activities, all free to access and use throughout the week.

New website, new resources, new ideas

We have kick-started BCAW with the release of the BCI’s annual Horizon Scan Survey Report that reveals the top threats to businesses in 2013. The report contains some powerful information on the underlying trends that drive disruption both from a geographical as well as sectoral perspective and provides organizations with an immediate focus in terms of BC planning for 2013 as well as delivering some valuable insights into the longer-term needs for BC capability development.  You can download the full report here.

The new BCAW website is now live with a new structure that facilitates targeted access for individuals, organizations as well as for the media, as well as some great new resources.  We will be adding new resources and BCAW updates from now right through to BCAW, which takes place 18th to 22nd March 2013, and a bit beyond, so make sure you stay in the picture and check back for regular updates.

Some of the things coming your way

BC24, our online crisis simulation game, will once again be made available free to play for the month of March.  The game opens on 4^th March and closes on 22^nd March so make sure you register your teams on time.  BC24 is a great way to embed BC into an organization in a fun and competitive way and provides some valuable benchmarking insights into individual BC performance and therefore BC capability across the organization.  Once again, PwC has agreed to sponsor the game and there will be prizes at the end for the winners!

The BCI will also be making some of its highly-acclaimed eLearning course – TheGood Practice Guidelines (GPG)  eLearningCourse – available free of charge for the duration of BCAW only.  To qualify for this free access (limited period only), you will have to sign up before the 28^th February 2013; the lines for registration will be opening at the beginning of February on the BCAW site, so make sure you check back at regular intervals to ensure you don’t miss out on this great opportunity.  The BCI GPG eLearning course is a great way to discover more about business continuity and is pitched at both the newcomer, who is looking to get to grips with the discipline and the BC professional; who is looking to refresh BC knowledge.  And as it is web-based, you can use it anytime, anywhere, so it needn’t impact your day to day commitments.   The free access will allow you to sample the eLearning course without any obligation and teach you some great stuff at the same time, and if you really like it, then maybe you should consider doing the full course or maybe one of the other GPG courses available.  See our Training pages for more information.

Once again, webinars will be running throughout the week on a wide range of BC related topics and there will be some free to attend BC events running throughout as well.

We will be tweeting and adding new blogs to TheBCEye blog post as well as promoting alerts and discussions on LinkedIn but we will need your support in spreading the word to your contacts and networks.  If you can help us promote any news stories, then please get in touch with me.

If you have any resources you would like to share with other BC professionals and interested parties, would like to run an event (let us know and we will promote it), share a story or a case study with us, present a webinar or even write a blog then contact me here or via the BCAW website from the media section - can't wait to hear from you. 

Ways you can get involved

§  Host an event

§  Present a webinar

§  Run an in-house awareness raising programme

§  Play the BC24 Game

§  Enrol on our eLearning course

§  Share your news and stories

Call to Action

Make sure you have a look at the new site and spend a few minutes listening to Lyndon Bird's short video presentation that sets the scene for this really important week in the BC calendar and remember, BCAW is a time to get involved; a time to learn and share good practice with others.  It is a time to convert and be converted; to teach and understand. 

We hope that you will make the most of the opportunities this week or indeed the whole month of March has to offer and use this time to make a difference.

Good luck and enjoy!