UAE launches business continuity management standard

Dubai: The UAE has launched a business continuity management standard to ensure organisations across the country continue operating throughout any emergency, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Mohammad Khalfan Al Rumaithi, general manager of the National Emergency and Crisis Management, said business continuity management is a process that helps manage risks to the smooth running of an organisation or delivery of a service in the private and public sectors, ensuring continuity of critical functions in the event of a disruption, and effective recovery afterwards.

“To maintain and promote stability, the Government aims to ensure all organisations across the country have a clear understanding of business continuity management,” he said.

Al Rumaithi added the UAE’s business continuity management standard was set after consulting the British, Australian, New Zealand, Swiss and Singaporean standards, and considering the nature of the UAE’s activities and services.

The standard, Al Rumaithi said, helped organisations identify their key services and the threats to these and through planning and exercising the impact of potential disruption could be minimised.

Al Rumaithi said the standard would also help in the prompt resumption of services, suggesting it must be regarded as an integral part of an organisation’s normal management processes.

Mohammad Ahmad Al Junaibi, manager of safety and protection department at the authority, said the UAE led the way in this area, as there was no such standard in Arabic in the region. “The first business continuity management standard was drafted in the UK in 2006, when it grappled with a series of crises and disasters, which prompted creating systems to ensure organisations and businesses continue operating throughout any emergency.”

Al Junaibi said the UAE standard sets out elements to the business continuity management process in the private and public sectors. It also provided for developing and implementing incident management, business continuity and business recovery plans that detail the steps to be taken during and after an incident to maintain or restore operations.