BCM Articles

About the IBCT

IBCT is an internationally-recognized Business Continuity training and consulting company, offering a wide range of Business Continuity Management (BCM) and related courses online, onsite, and throughout the year in the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, and around the world.

BCM Certification

Our focus is to provide the very best Business Continuity training you can get. There are many Business Continuity certification companies. Their courses focus on AWARENESS - what you need "to know" - to pass their certification exams. Our courses are different. Our focus is on TRAINING - what you need to know how "to do" — so you can protect the key business activities of your operations.In the event of a major - or minor - critical incident, we want to ensure your organization will prove resilient so that the essential components of your organization will survive. So we teach you what you need "to know" as well as how "to do" it. And, yes, you also get professionally certified in the process. Guaranteed! Business Continuity Professional Certification It is a fact of life today that you need to be certified in order to advance your career. It is not enough simply to know how to do the job; you have to be able to prove it through an independent 3rd party examination. Drawing from the International Standard ISO 22301, we believe our courses “BCM-801: Certificate in Business Continuity & Resiliency Management” and "BCM-901: Diploma in Business Continuity & Resiliency Management" are the very best business continuity training workshops offered anywhere in the world. BENEFITS OF BECOMING CERTIFIED Your knowledge and experience are impartially validated by the NIBCM; Evidences your familiarity with the Standard for Business Continuity Management ; Enhances your career prospects and gives you an edge in competitive situations ; Grants a credential developed against ISO and ANSI standards; Demonstrates your commitment to personal career growth and professional development in the the field of BCM Participants learn how to initiate and manage a comprehensive BCP project—from start to finish! In addition to "best principles", you also learn "best practices" - the practical "how to" develop and maintain effective continuity plans. We teach ...

BCM Remote Consulting ...

During this COVID-19 pandemic, most of our clients have opted for online (synchronous or asynchronous) training and remote consulting. Our asynchronous training portal is at https://www.BCMcourses.com. Similarly, our consulting services are provided either onsite or remotely. Remote consulting jobs can be full- or part-time, contract or employee, and flexible in terms of where and when the work is done.Remote consulting is augmented through the use of video (synchronous) meetings. Our consulting rates are very flexible and geared to a client's needs, ranging from $ 200 an hour for a block of 50 consulting hours to $ 500 an hour for a one-off consultation. Monthly retainer packages are also available. Our training and consulting staff are all professionally certified BCM professionals, each with over 20 years of experience in line management as well as Business Continuity Planning, drawn from a variety of fields including manufacturing, retail, IT, government and financial services, among others. Our staff are not just consultants: unlike the 'big' firms, we actually WORK in business continuity management. We have done your job and we can help you do it too! IBCT can provide onsite and remote consulting services encompassing the full BCM lifecycle, from project inception through risk assessment, business impact analysis, strategy selection and implementation, awareness and training, and program management and review. IBCT would be pleased to assist you in the development of an effective BCMS covering your key business activities worldwide or, on a personal note, to train you to become professionally certified in this field. Our team of BC professionals are at your disposal.

BCM Training

The Institute for Business Continuity Training (IBCT) is an international Business Continuity training and consulting company, offering a wide range of Business Continuity Management (BCM) services. In particular, our training courses are provided online, onsite, and throughout the year in the United States, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Europe and around the world. We have worked with an exceptionally wide variety of businesses, ranging from multinational Fortune 500 corporations to 1-person cassava bakers with a stall in the local marketplace. Our clients are international, and over the past year have been drawn from Canada, Jamaica, Mexico, the BVI, Columbia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Nigeria, Cameroun, Uganda, and India, as well as the United States. In the Caribbean and Central America, we are particularly pleased with our success providing BCM services to members of the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organisations, including Cable & Wireless (multiple countries), Bahamas Telecommunications Company, TSTT, Digicel (multiple countries), TeleSur, and many others. We partnered with H. Lavity Stout Community College in the British Virgin Islands to provide online and classroom training to some 100 Caribbean and Central American government Disaster Managers under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program. Plus we have worked with several other UN agencies in New York and Paris. We also partnered with the University of the West Indies and the Organization of American States to provide Business Continuity training to over 200 small MSME businesses around the Caribbean, in Belize, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Antigua and Dominica. Our training and consulting staff are all professionally certified BCM professionals, each with over 20 years of experience in line management as well as Business Continuity Planning, drawn from a variety of fields including manufacturing, retail, IT, ...

Business Continuity & ...

21st Century Business Continuity Management BCM-801: NEWLY REVISED IN ACCORDANCE WITH ISO 22301 (2019) This 3-day course provides an intensive, hands-on workshop covering all major aspects for the design of an effective Business Continuity and Resiliency Program for business, government and not-for-profit organizations. Now available online at https://www.BCMcourses.com. This workshop provides practical tools and techniques for creating and maintaining a Business Continuity Management System, and a comprehensive overview and understanding of BCMS, its principles, and methodologies, and best practices with a special focus on ISO 22301, the International Standard for BCM and the Plan-Do-Check-Act management lifecycle. Special sessions address Pandemic Planning AND CyberSecurity. The course also enables participants to successfully sit the certification exam for the Business Continuity and Resiliency Professional (BCRP) designation. If you are responsible for creating or updating a BC Plan, this course will enable you to do your job. This course is perfect for new or experienced Business Continuity Planners. Course fee includes BCRP exam prep AND BCRP exam In Europe, this is the only BCMS course you will ever need to take ! Course take-aways: detailed course handbook; 32G BCM FlashDrive with over 6,000 templates etc, including all course files; Diploma in Business Continuity and Resiliency Management (ISO 22310 Specialist); Business Continuity and Resiliency Professional (BCRP) designation PLUS the knowledge and tools needed to develop or enhance a Business Continuity Management System. ------------------------------------------------------This course is designed for individuals new to business continuity management, consultants and auditors wishing to learn about BCM, executives, managers, business continuity planners, engineers, IT staff, and business unit managers who are involved in developing or managing business ...

Free BCM Templates etc

Free Business Continuity templates and much more Over the years, IBCT has collected a large number of outside resources related to Business Continuity and related fields. Normally, we give out a free 32G BCM FlashDrive during our in-person classes, that contains over 7,000 BC files (Word, PPT, Excel, etc). If you would like to access some of this free material, just sign up. We are happy to be of service. If there is anything in particular you are looking for, just send us an email to Jack Alexander, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We will add more files as time permits. Please come back often to check what is new.

Gold BCM Standard

The gold standard in BCM qualifications The BCRP (Business Continuity & Resiliency Professional) is a professional certification offered through IBCT for individuals engaged in practicing, teaching, or consulting in the field of Business Continuity Management (BCM). It is one of the most widely recognized BCM qualifications in the world. The certification body is the National Institute for Business Continuity Management (www.NIBCM.net). Typically, you must have either two years of verifiable practical experience in BCM, or have taken equivalent formal training from an approved training provider such as IBCT. For example, on completion of our BCM-901 Diploma in Business Continuity & Resiliency Management, an individual is entitled to write the BCRP exam without further verification required. The NIBCM has deemed the course content equivalent to two years on-the-job experience. Through our Diploma course, participants receive training in developing practical methodologies and techniques for initiating, developing and maintaining an effective Business Continuity Management System for any size or type of organization. Even for individuals new to the field of BCM, our face-to-face in-person course or the online program both give the confidence and skill set they need to begin working in BCM, in as little as one week. The BCRP course is based on the international BCM standard ISO 22301. Whether you are new to the field of Business Continuity Management, or you are an experienced practitioner looking to refresh your training, or looking to demonstrate to clients that you have the required skills with a recognized certificate, the BCRP is the qualification you need. IBCT has experienced a virtual 100% success rate in preparing course participants for the BCRP exam. Indeed, IBCT is so confident in its ability to train you in BCM that all course participants receive our BCRP exam "Success Guarantee". If - for any reason - you are not successful in ...

Keep Your Business ...

Keep your business running - no matter what! Would you like to develop a Business Continuity Plan? Do you work in Disaster Recovery, Risk Management, IT, Compliance, Quality Control, ICT, Security, Audit, or Emergency Management? Would you like to learn 21st Century BCM techniques? Would you like to become professionally certified in Business Continuity Management? Well, IBCT can definitely help you! IBCT is an internationally-recognized Business Continuity training and consulting company, offering a wide range of Business Continuity Management (BCM) and related courses online, onsite, and throughout the year in the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, and around the world. Our clients are international, and over the past year have been drawn from Canada, Jamaica, Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Nigeria, Cameroun, Uganda, and India, as well as the United States. In the Caribbean and Central America, we are particularly pleased with our success providing BCM services to members of the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organisations, including Cable & Wireless (multiple countries), Bahamas Telecommunications Company, TSTT, Digicel (multiple countries), TeleSur, and many others. Recently we partnered with H. Lavity Stout Community College in the British Virgin Islands to provide online and classroom training to some 100 Caribbean and Central American government Disaster Managers under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program. Plus we have worked with several other UN agencies. Our focus is to provide the very best Business Continuity training you can get. There are many BCM training/certification companies. Their focus is to train you in what you need "to know" - so that you can pass their certification exam. Our courses are different. Our focus is to train you in what you need "to do" — so that you can protect the key business activities of ...

Not your Father's BCM

BC Practitioners need to Change In 2020, one of the many lessons we are learning through COVID-19 is that every business needs an effective business continuity plan. It is no longer good enough that Fortune 500 companies can afford to have full-time BCP Managers on staff. Every type and size of business is vulnerable to natural or man-made disasters and every business needs some sort of a BCP. And it cannot just cover IT. I have been a part of this industry since the “good ol’ days”, when we made duplicates of our punched cards, just in case we dropped the original set. Back in the 1970’s, we ran everything on mainframes, which we safeguarded in protective rooms under very stringent controls. The worst thing that could happen back then was dropping a pizza slice into a tape drive (guilty as charged!). As we moved into distributed networking in the 1980’s, computer systems became more important for day-to-day operations, and some people realized we needed specialists who could plan for disaster management and data recovery in case something drastic happened. This is when IT Disaster Recovery really began to pay off. At the Institute for Business Continuity Training (IBCT) (www.IBCT.com), our focus is to train people who otherwise have full-time jobs, on how to best plan, organize, develop and maintain an effective business continuity program for their organization. We teach proven methodologies, and our focus is to ensure that after taking our course, you can return to your place of employment and actually develop an effective business continuity plan for your organization. We make certain that our course materials cover the usual DRII 10 Professional Practices, and comply with international standards. We pulled our material together to create a unique BCP lifecycle based on the ISO standards like ISO 22301 and ISO 27000. Then we took each of the 7 elements of that lifecycle, and developed solid methodology with step-by-step procedures, ...

Responding to COVID-19

COVID-19: How we are responding In the last few months, communities and businesses around the world have been struck by an unexpected and once-in-a-lifetime challenge. As the coronavirus pandemic evolves, IBCT is acutely aware of its unique position and ability to help organizations connect with and educate their communities, employees, and partners. These are the actions IBCT has taken to ensure the uninterrupted service of all its products, as well as do its part to contain the spread of the virus. Safety of IBCT’s employees and business continuity IBCT is fully equipped and prepared to continue providing the same level of product reliability and customer service as it does under normal conditions. All technical systems are automated and on the cloud. All staff have transitioned to working remotely. Customer success, support, and product advisors have full access to the necessary tools to continue assisting every customer. Supporting businesses that are shifting to remote work Having completed the transition to fully remote work itself, the team at IBCT is aware that other businesses are making this same transition for the first time. To aid in this process, the team has collected all of its relevant resources in a single place for easy access. Here, companies can find information about working and training remotely, guides for building employee training programs quickly, and basic information about COVID-19 to share with their employees. Helping the global community As a company that offers online training built to optimize onsite courses, IBCT is in a distinct position to provide help to small businesses and nonprofit organizations who are on the front lines of slowing the spread of COVID-19. To support these heroic efforts, the company’s flagship product, BCM-801 Business Continuity and Resiliency Management will be available to qualifying organizations, free of charge. Interested organizations can obtain more information by emailing Jack ...

21st Century Business Continuity Management

BCM-801: NEWLY REVISED IN ACCORDANCE WITH ISO 22301 (2019)

This 3-day course provides an intensive, hands-on workshop covering all major aspects for the design of an effective Business Continuity and Resiliency Program for business, government and not-for-profit organizations.

Now available online at https://www.BCMcourses.com.

This workshop provides practical tools and techniques for creating and maintaining a Business Continuity Management System, and a comprehensive overview and understanding of BCMS, its principles, and methodologies, and best practices with a special focus on ISO 22301, the International Standard for BCM and the Plan-Do-Check-Act management lifecycle. Special sessions address Pandemic Planning AND CyberSecurity.

The course also enables participants to successfully sit the certification exam for the Business Continuity and Resiliency Professional (BCRP) designation.

If you are responsible for creating or updating a BC Plan, this course will enable you to do your job. This course is perfect for new or experienced Business Continuity Planners.

Course fee includes BCRP exam prep AND BCRP exam

In Europe, this is the only BCMS course you will ever need to take !

Course take-aways:

detailed course handbook;
32G BCM FlashDrive with over 6,000 templates etc, including all course files;
Diploma in Business Continuity and Resiliency Management (ISO 22310 Specialist);
Business Continuity and Resiliency Professional (BCRP) designation

PLUS the knowledge and tools needed to develop or enhance a Business Continuity Management System.

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This course is designed for individuals new to business continuity management, consultants and auditors wishing to learn about BCM, executives, managers, business continuity planners, engineers, IT staff, and business unit managers who are involved in developing or managing business continuity planning functions.

It is also highly useful for records managers, administrative heads and others responsible for the effective administration of any size of organization. This course provides an intensive, hands-on workshop covering all major aspects of the Business Continuity Management lifecycle for corporations and government organizations.

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“How to do” plus “What to do”

Drawing from the international Business Continuity Standard ISO 22301, the ISO 31000 Risk Management standard, the BS 11200 Crisis Management Standard, and the ISO 22398 Exercises and Testing standard, we believe this course “ECP-801: Business Continuity & Resiliency Management” is the very best business continuity training offered anywhere in the world.

Learn how to initiate and manage a comprehensive BCMS program—from start to finish! In addition to "best principles", you also learn "best practices" - the practical "how to" develop and maintain an effective Business Continuity Management System. We teach you “what” you need to know plus “how” to do it.

The course covers:
- CyberSecurity preparedness
- tools and techniques for conducting risk assessments and business impact analysis
- practical methodologies to design and manage effective continuity plans
- case studies to examine real life situations and their solutions
- guided study and group exercises to apply the lessons learned
- methodologies for creating a BC plan to support your business in the face of any critical incident.

This course is fully accredited by National Institute for Business Continuity Management (NIBCM).

Completion of this course qualifies participants to write the certification exam to obtain the professional designation of Business Continuity and Resiliency Professional (BCRP).

IBCT has had virtually 100% success preparing course participants for this exam. In the unlikely event that you do not succeed in your first attempt at the exam, IBCT will pay the $ 500 fee for any subsequent attempts.

A typical course participant has less than two years of experience in business continuity planning! They have been ‘volun-told’ into this new role and need to know how to successfully carry out these new duties.

This course is suitable for—and has been used effectively by—every type of organization in the private and non-profit sector and government, from multi-national firms to single proprietorships, and every size between. The techniques and tools we provide are applicable to banking, insurance, manufacturing, health care, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, federal, state and local government organizations, in addition to international corporations and non-profit agencies.

In addition, participants leave this course with our Diploma in Business Continuity and Resiliency Management.

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BCM - 801: Business Continuity and Resiliency Management

The course also enables participants to successfully sit the certification exam for the Business Continuity and Resiliency Professional (BCRP) designation.

Audience

This course is designed for new or experienced BCM practitioners, executives, managers, business continuity planners and business unit staff who are involved with business continuity planning. It is also highly useful for internal and external auditors, security managers, records managers, information technology managers, crisis managers, senior IT staff, administrative heads, and others responsible for the administration of any organization.

Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, participants should:

• have a solid understanding of the Business Continuity Management lifecycle as it applies to ISO 22301

• have the tools and knowledge required to conduct a Business Impact Analysis and Risk Assessment for their organization

• know how to identify and select cost-effective strategies for key business activities, IT systems, and Cyber Security programs

• be able to guide their business unit personnel through the development of practical and effective business recovery plans

• be able to create an effective Incident Management structure within their organization, including Emergency Response and Crisis Management

• know how to keep their plans current and viable

• know how to plan and coordinate effective tests and exercises

• understand the role of CyberSecurity protocols and incident response

• successfully sit the certification exam for the Business Continuity and Resiliency Professional designation

Topics covered include:

1. Business Continuity Lifecycle Management:

• Evolution of BC Planning and Standards

• Overview of ISO 22301: Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle

2. Establish business continuity policy, objectives, targets, controls, and procedures

• Setting corporate policies, objectives and budgets

• Assigning accountability for the Business Continuity program

• Establishing the Business Continuity teams

3. Crisis Communications

• Communicating proactively with customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders

• Addressing the needs and concerns of employees and their families

• Guidelines for Effective Media Relations—broadcast interviews, print media, news conferences, social media

4. Awareness and Training

• Defining your Awareness and Training Requirements

• Implementing the Program

• Managing the Ongoing Program

5. Business Impact Analysis and Risk Assessment - What threatens your organization?

• Understanding the need for a Business Continuity program

• Defining your organization's Business Continuity requirements

o Conducting a Business Impact Analysis

o Conducting a Business Unit Risk Assessment

6. Identifying and selecting Business Continuity strategies for:

• Mitigating risk

• Reducing impact

• Recovering technologies

• Resuming business operations

7. Developing plans for CyberSecurity

• Determine risks and impacts of disruption

• Establish effective CyberSecurity protocols and incident response procedures

8. Developing plans for Business Resiliency

• Initial response and assessment

• Interim contingencies

• Resource provisioning

• Business recovery

• Return to normal

9. Developing a Crisis Management Plan:

• Creating a Crisis Management Team

• Establishing on-site and off-site Command Centers

• Escalating emergencies and activating Business Continuity teams and plans

• Crisis management checklists to help the CMT with ‘crisis project management’

10. Key Components in a Crisis Management Plan:

• Decision-making authority

• Coordination with public authorities

• Human resources issues

• Financial control issues

• Legal, contractual and regulatory issues

11. Review of Techniques for Training and Exercising Business Continuity Teams:

• Table Top Exercises

• Simulation Exercises

• Drills

• Operational Exercises

• Mock Disasters

12. Setting Test and Exercise Objectives:

• Planning and Preparation

• Measuring Success and Performance

• Critical Success Factors

13. Review of Techniques for Validating and Maintaining Business Continuity Plans:

• Desk Checks; Peer Reviews

• Structured Walkthroughs

• Standalone Tests; Integrated Tests

• Operational Tests

• Call Tree Tests

14. Plan Maintenance:

• Establishing a repository for all plan documentation and procedures

• Implementing a Change Control system

• Administering the maintenance process

• Developing and ensuring compliance with corporate policies and standards

15. Plan Evaluation:

• Identifying significant changes to business units and critical operating processes

• Reviewing current strategies for reducing risk, reducing impact, recovering computer systems, resuming business operations

• Reviewing and updating Business Continuity requirements

• Auditing the Business Continuity program

14. Plan Administration:

• Administering the plan maintenance process

• Centralized versus decentralized administration

• Managing access and dissemination of plan contents

• Generally Accepted Business Continuity 'Best Practices'

Typical Agenda for a 3-day Course:

Day 1

Introduction to Business Continuity Management

• Evolution of BC Planning

• Overview of ISO 22301: Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle

PLAN - Establish business continuity policy, objectives, processes and procedures

• Context of the Organization

o Defining Scope of the Business Continuity Management System (BCMS)

• Leadership

o Gaining Management Commitment

o Defining the Corporate BC Policy

• Planning

o Organizational Risk

o BCMS Goals and Objectives

• Support

o Establishing the Business Continuity team structure

o Developing an Awareness and Training Program

o Communicating in a Crisis

Day 2

DO - Implement and operate the business continuity policy, controls, processes and procedures

• Business Impact Analysis

o Conducting a Business Impact Analysis

o Review of Impact Analysis tools

• Risk Assessment

o Conducting a Risk Assessment

o Review of Risk Assessment tools

• Analyzing the BIA and RA Data

o Collecting and Compiling the Data

o Analyzing the Data and Determining Options

• Identifying Strategies to Reduce Risk and Impact

o Identifying Strategies to Reduce Risk and Impact

o Selecting Business Continuity Strategies

o Pandemic Planning

o CyberSecurty and BCM

o Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO)

o Test and manage changes to the Disaster Recovery Plan

o Strategies to ensure CyberSecurity resiliency

Day 3

DO (cont’d)

• Crisis Management Planning

o Developing an Incident Response plan

• Business Recovery Procedures

• Testing and Validating BC plans

• Exercising the BCMS Teams

CHECK

• Monitor and review performance against business continuity policy and objectives

• Auditing and Evaluating BC plans

• Management Review

• Performing a GAP Analysis

ACT

• Maintain and improve the BCMS by taking corrective action

• Maintaining and Administering BCP plans

• Continual Improvement

• Preparing your organization for ISO 22301 certification

Course Handouts:

• Print and Electronic Versions of all Presentation Materials

• Excel Spreadsheet tools for Risk Assessments, Business Impact Analysis, and Strategy Evaluations, BC/ITDR Plan Word document templates plus an electronic version of a comprehensive Business Recovery Plan from an actual organization

• Over 6,000 additional software tools covering all aspects of Business Continuity Planning and IT Disaster Recovery

Participants leave with the knowledge and the tools to immediately start developing their own business continuity plan. Plus, you receive our unique 32G BCM FlashDrive with over 6,000 BCM software tools, detailed course materials, and our BCRP exam "Success Guarantee" - you will pass the BCRP exam on your first attempt - or we will pay for any subsequent attempts, no questions asked!

In Europe, this is the only BCMS course you will ever need to take!