From cacophony to symphony: How to focus the discipline of business continuity

David Lindstedt, Director of Enterprise Continuity Management, The Ohio State University and John Copenhaver, CEO, Contingency Management Group

Abstract
On the ‘stage’ of business continuity, there is a cacophony of voices — an unfocused assortment of ideas, approaches and advice. A casual glance at any continuity trade journal quickly reveals disparate discussions about even the most fundamental of issues. The dedicated magazines and conferences are filled with anecdotes and case studies but lack a focused discussion leading towards a holistic approach to the discipline. In fact, most often these discussions are not proper conversations at all, but disjointed groupings of loosely connected topics. It is time for practitioners to organise their considerable collective talent into a structured effort to ground and defend this growing profession. It is time to move from an informal sharing of individual lessons learned to a studied discipline. This paper proposes several ways to focus thinking and energise efforts. It will offer a select few topics to help provide a framework of central focal points for research, thought and growth.

Keywords
business continuity, foundation, discipline, profession, research

John B. Copenhaver is the CEO of Contingency Management Group, and has served in various leadership positions within the business continuity and emergency management sectors.

David Lindstedt is the Director of Enterprise Continuity Management for The Ohio State University, the largest university in the USA. He has a background in education, project management and business continuity. Dr Lindstedt has given several international presentations and has been published in many international journals.

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