Top 12 Business Continuity Manager Skills to Put on Your Resume
In today’s fast-paced and unpredictable business environment, having a robust set of skills as a Business Continuity Manager is crucial for ensuring an organization's resilience and rapid recovery from disruptions. This article highlights the top 12 skills that are essential for Business Continuity Managers to possess and showcase on their resume, equipping them to effectively plan, respond, and lead recovery efforts in any crisis scenario.
Business Continuity Manager Skills
- Risk Assessment
- Disaster Recovery
- Business Impact Analysis
- Crisis Management
- ISO 22301
- Incident Command System
- Continuity Planning
- Emergency Response
- ITIL Framework
- Cloud Computing
- Cybersecurity Measures
- Regulatory Compliance
1. Risk Assessment
Risk assessment is the process of identifying, analyzing, and evaluating potential risks to an organization's continuity and operations, aimed at implementing effective mitigation strategies to minimize their impact.
Why It's Important
Risk assessment is crucial for a Business Continuity Manager as it enables the identification and evaluation of potential threats to the organization. This process is essential for developing effective strategies and plans to mitigate risks, ensuring the organization can continue its critical operations with minimal disruption in the face of unforeseen events or crises.
How to Improve Risk Assessment Skills
Improving risk assessment involves a continuous process of identifying, analyzing, and managing potential risks that could impact business operations. As a Business Continuity Manager, here are concise steps to enhance risk assessment:
Identify Risks: Begin by identifying potential risks that could affect your business. Use a combination of methods such as brainstorming, reviewing historical incident data, and consulting with stakeholders. FEMA's guide on identifying risks is a useful resource.
Analyze Risks: Assess the likelihood and impact of identified risks. Tools like risk matrices can help prioritize risks based on their severity. The ISO 31000 standard provides guidelines on risk analysis.
Implement Controls: Develop strategies to mitigate high-priority risks. This might involve implementing new policies, procedures, or technology solutions. The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) offers resources on planning and implementing controls.
Monitor and Review: Continuously monitor the risk environment and review the effectiveness of your risk management strategies. Adjust your plans as necessary to address new or changing risks. The Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI) provides insights on maintaining and updating your risk assessment process.
Communicate and Train: Ensure all stakeholders understand their roles in managing risks. Regular training and communication can help reinforce the importance of risk management. Ready.gov's Business Continuity Plan includes templates and resources for communication and training.
By following these steps and utilizing the resources provided, a Business Continuity Manager can significantly improve the organization's risk assessment process, ensuring a more resilient business operation.
How to Display Risk Assessment Skills on Your Resume
2. Disaster Recovery
Disaster Recovery (DR) is a component of business continuity planning that focuses on the quick restoration of IT systems and data access after a disruptive event to ensure minimal downtime and loss for the business.
Why It's Important
Disaster Recovery is crucial for ensuring a business can quickly resume critical operations after an unexpected event, minimizing downtime, financial loss, and damage to reputation. It is a core component of business continuity, safeguarding data integrity and availability.
How to Improve Disaster Recovery Skills
To improve Disaster Recovery (DR) as a Business Continuity Manager, follow these concise steps:
Risk Assessment: Identify and evaluate risks to your organization's operations. FEMA provides guidelines for conducting a thorough risk assessment.
DR Plan Development: Create a comprehensive DR plan tailored to your organization's needs. Ready.gov offers resources on how to develop and maintain your plan.
Regular Testing: Conduct regular DR tests to ensure your plan's effectiveness and update it based on test outcomes. The Disaster Recovery Institute International offers insights on best practices for testing.
Employee Training: Train employees on their roles during recovery operations. The Red Cross provides resources on preparing employees for emergencies.
Data Backup Solutions: Implement robust data backup solutions, using cloud services or offsite backups. Guidance can be found through the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center.
Vendor Collaboration: Work with vendors to ensure they have DR plans that align with yours. ISACA discusses considerations for cloud environments.
Continuous Improvement: Regularly review and update your DR plan to adapt to new threats and business changes. The Business Continuity Institute offers resources for continuous improvement in DR planning.
By following these steps and leveraging resources from recognized organizations, you can significantly enhance your organization's disaster recovery capabilities.
How to Display Disaster Recovery Skills on Your Resume
3. Business Impact Analysis
Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is a process used by Business Continuity Managers to assess and prioritize the potential impacts of disruptions to an organization’s processes, systems, or functions, aiming to develop strategies and plans to mitigate risks and ensure continuity of operations.
Why It's Important
A Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is essential for a Business Continuity Manager as it identifies critical operations and the impact of disruptions, enabling prioritized recovery strategies to minimize downtime and financial losses.
How to Improve Business Impact Analysis Skills
Improving Business Impact Analysis (BIA) involves a few key steps tailored for a Business Continuity Manager:
Define Business Processes: Clearly identify and prioritize your organization's critical business processes. FEMA provides a comprehensive guide on understanding business processes in the context of emergency management.
Assess Impact Over Time: Determine how the impact on these processes changes over time after a disruption. The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) offers insights on assessing impact over time.
Identify Dependencies: Map out internal and external dependencies of critical processes. Tools like the Criticality Analysis Tool from Ready.gov can help identify and prioritize these dependencies.
Engage Stakeholders: Regularly engage with stakeholders to validate the information and assumptions in your BIA. Guidance on stakeholder engagement can be found in resources from DRI International.
Review and Update Regularly: The BIA should not be a one-time activity. Regular reviews and updates as per ISO 22301 standards ensure the BIA reflects current operations and risks.
Leverage Technology: Utilize BIA software tools for data collection, analysis, and reporting. Gartner provides analysis on various BCM tools which can aid in the BIA process.
Training and Awareness: Ensure that all relevant staff are trained on the BIA process and understand their role. BCI’s Training can be a valuable resource for professional development in this area.
By following these steps, a Business Continuity Manager can significantly improve the effectiveness of their Business Impact Analysis, thereby enhancing the organization's resilience against disruptions.
How to Display Business Impact Analysis Skills on Your Resume
4. Crisis Management
Crisis Management is the process of preparing for, responding to, and recovering from unexpected and disruptive events to minimize impact and ensure continuity of operations, focusing on safeguarding employees, assets, and reputation.
Why It's Important
Crisis management is crucial for a Business Continuity Manager as it enables the proactive identification, assessment, and mitigation of risks to safeguard the organization’s continuity, maintain stakeholder trust, and minimize financial, operational, and reputational impacts during unexpected disruptions.
How to Improve Crisis Management Skills
Improving crisis management involves a blend of preparation, clear communication, and adaptability. Here's a concise guide tailored for a Business Continuity Manager:
Plan and Prepare: Develop a comprehensive crisis management plan that includes response strategies, recovery procedures, and business continuity measures. Regularly update this plan to reflect new threats and business changes.
Assess Risks: Conduct thorough risk assessments to identify potential crises and their impacts. This helps in prioritizing resources and responses effectively.
Training and Exercises: Organize regular training sessions and simulation exercises for the crisis management team and staff. This ensures everyone knows their roles and responsibilities during a crisis.
Communication: Establish a clear communication plan that outlines how to disseminate information internally to employees and externally to customers, suppliers, and the media. Effective communication is crucial in managing perceptions and maintaining trust.
Stakeholder Engagement: Build relationships with key stakeholders, including local authorities, emergency services, and community organizations. Collaboration can provide additional support and resources during a crisis.
Review and Learn: After a crisis, conduct a debriefing session to evaluate the response's effectiveness and gather feedback. Use these insights to improve future crisis management efforts and update the plan accordingly.
By focusing on these areas, a Business Continuity Manager can enhance their organization's resilience to crises and minimize their impact on operations.
How to Display Crisis Management Skills on Your Resume
5. ISO 22301
ISO 22301 is an international standard for Business Continuity Management System (BCMS), providing a framework for organizations to plan, establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain, and continually improve a documented system to protect against, reduce the likelihood of occurrence, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive incidents when they arise.
Why It's Important
ISO 22301 is crucial for a Business Continuity Manager as it provides a standardized framework for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving a Business Continuity Management System (BCMS), ensuring the organization's resilience and capability to continue critical operations during and after disruptive incidents.
How to Improve ISO 22301 Skills
Improving ISO 22301, which focuses on Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS), involves a continuous process of planning, implementing, monitoring, reviewing, maintaining, and improving the preparedness, response, and recovery activities of an organization. As a Business Continuity Manager, here are key steps for enhancing your organization's alignment with ISO 22301 standards:
Gap Analysis: Conduct a comprehensive gap analysis against the ISO 22301 requirements to identify areas of non-conformity or improvement. Use this as a basis for planning enhancements (ISO).
Training and Awareness: Ensure that all employees are aware of and trained in their roles within the BCMS. Continuous education and drills can enhance response effectiveness and awareness (BSI Group).
Review and Update BCMS Documentation: Regularly review and update business continuity plans, policies, and procedures to ensure they are current and effective. This includes revising documents to reflect any changes in the business environment or operations (ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1).
Exercise and Testing: Conduct regular exercises and tests to validate the effectiveness of the business continuity plans and identify areas for improvement. This should include both desktop exercises and more comprehensive simulations (FEMA).
Incident Management and Continuous Improvement: Implement an effective incident management system that includes a process for learning from incidents. Use findings from incidents, exercises, and audits to drive continuous improvement in the BCMS (ISO 22301 Toolkit).
Audits and Reviews: Schedule regular internal and external audits to ensure compliance with ISO 22301 and to identify areas for improvement. Use audit findings as input for the continuous improvement process (ISO).
Management Review: Conduct periodic management reviews of the BCMS to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness. This should involve top management to ensure leadership engagement (ISO).
Leverage Technology: Consider the use of technology and software solutions designed to support BCMS processes, from risk assessment to incident management, to enhance efficiency and effectiveness (BCMS software solutions).
Stakeholder Engagement: Engage with internal and external stakeholders, including suppliers and partners, to ensure that their requirements are considered and that they are prepared to support your business continuity strategies (ISO 22301 Toolkit).
Benchmark and Learn: Benchmark your BCMS against industry best practices and learn from the experiences of other organizations. Consider joining professional bodies and forums to stay updated on the latest trends and insights in business continuity management (Disaster Recovery Institute International).
By following these steps and continually seeking ways to improve, Business Continuity Managers can ensure their organizations are better prepared to respond to and recover from disruptive incidents, thereby enhancing their alignment with ISO 22301 standards.
How to Display ISO 22301 Skills on Your Resume
6. Incident Command System
The Incident Command System (ICS) is a standardized, on-scene, all-hazards incident management approach that allows for the integration of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure. For a Business Continuity Manager, ICS is an essential framework for managing emergencies or disruptions effectively, ensuring a coordinated and efficient response to protect the organization's people, assets, and operations.
Why It's Important
The Incident Command System (ICS) is crucial for a Business Continuity Manager as it provides a standardized, on-scene, all-hazards incident management approach. This ensures effective and efficient coordination during emergencies, enabling quick restoration of business operations and minimizing disruption.
How to Improve Incident Command System Skills
Improving the Incident Command System (ICS) within a business environment, especially from a Business Continuity Manager's perspective, involves a strategic approach focused on enhancing coordination, communication, and preparedness. Here are concise steps with relevant resources:
Training and Exercises: Ensure all team members undergo regular ICS training and participate in simulations. FEMA offers ICS courses that are specifically designed for different roles.
Clear Roles and Responsibilities: Define and communicate roles clearly within the ICS structure. The Ready.gov site provides guidelines for developing emergency plans that include role definitions.
Interoperability and Communication: Invest in interoperable communication systems that allow seamless information sharing. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides resources on enhancing communication systems.
Incident Action Plans (IAPs): Develop comprehensive IAPs for various scenarios. The U.S. Fire Administration offers templates and guides for creating effective action plans.
Partnerships and Collaboration: Build relationships with local emergency services, government agencies, and other businesses. The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) highlights the importance of collaboration in continuity planning.
After-Action Reviews (AARs): Conduct AARs after drills or actual incidents to identify lessons learned and areas for improvement. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides a comprehensive guide on conducting AARs and improving communication strategies.
Continuous Improvement: Leverage technology and data analytics for continuous monitoring and improvement of the ICS. Tools like Everbridge provide platforms for managing incidents and improving response strategies.
By focusing on these strategies, a Business Continuity Manager can enhance their organization's Incident Command System, leading to a more resilient and responsive business operation.
How to Display Incident Command System Skills on Your Resume
7. Continuity Planning
Continuity Planning, in the context of a Business Continuity Manager, involves developing strategies and actions to ensure critical business functions can continue during and after a disaster or disruption. It aims to minimize downtime and maintain essential operations.
Why It's Important
Continuity planning is crucial for ensuring an organization can maintain essential functions during and after a disruption, minimizing downtime and financial losses while safeguarding its reputation, assets, and stakeholder interests.
How to Improve Continuity Planning Skills
Improving continuity planning involves a strategic approach to ensure your business can maintain operations during and after a disaster or disruption. As a Business Continuity Manager, focus on the following steps:
Risk Assessment: Identify and evaluate risks that could impact your business operations. Tools like the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) help prioritize risks based on their potential impact.
Strategy Development: Create strategies for resilience and recovery. This includes crisis communication, IT disaster recovery, and employee safety plans.
Plan Development: Develop a comprehensive business continuity plan (BCP) that outlines procedures for responding to different types of disruptions. The FEMA Business Continuity Plan offers a template.
Training and Testing: Conduct regular training and exercises with your team to ensure they understand their roles in the continuity plan. Tabletop exercises, simulations, and drills can test the plan’s effectiveness.
Review and Update: Continuously review and update your BCP to address new risks or changes in your business operations. Engage stakeholders in review processes to ensure the plan remains current and effective.
Leverage Technology: Utilize cloud services for data backup and recovery. Cloud computing can enhance your business's agility and resilience.
Stakeholder Communication: Maintain open lines of communication with employees, customers, and suppliers. Inform them about your continuity strategies to build trust and confidence.
For a thorough understanding and additional resources, the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) and Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII) offer extensive guides, certifications, and professional development opportunities in continuity planning.
How to Display Continuity Planning Skills on Your Resume
8. Emergency Response
Emergency Response is the immediate and effective actions taken to protect employees, assets, and continuity of operations in the face of an unexpected incident or crisis.
Why It's Important
Emergency response is crucial for ensuring the safety of employees, minimizing damage, and rapidly restoring operations, thus preserving business continuity and stakeholder trust.
How to Improve Emergency Response Skills
Improving emergency response in the context of business continuity involves several key steps aimed at ensuring preparedness, swift action, and effective recovery. Here's a concise guide:
Assessment and Planning: Conduct a thorough risk assessment to identify potential emergencies. Develop a comprehensive emergency response plan tailored to these risks. FEMA offers guidelines on Emergency Response Plan Development.
Training and Exercises: Regularly train employees on their roles during an emergency. Conduct drills and simulations to test the effectiveness of the emergency response plan. The Red Cross provides resources on training programs.
Communication Systems: Establish clear, reliable communication channels to disseminate information quickly during an emergency. The Department of Homeland Security provides insights into effective communication strategies.
Coordination with Local Authorities: Build relationships with local emergency services and government agencies to ensure a coordinated response effort. FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program is a valuable resource for community coordination.
Review and Improvement: After any emergency or drill, conduct a thorough review to identify areas for improvement. Update the emergency response plan based on these insights. The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) offers resources on continuous improvement in emergency response.
By focusing on these key areas, a Business Continuity Manager can enhance their organization's emergency response capabilities, ensuring rapid, efficient, and effective management of any crisis situation.
How to Display Emergency Response Skills on Your Resume
9. ITIL Framework
The ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) framework is a set of best practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of businesses. For a Business Continuity Manager, ITIL provides guidance on designing and implementing effective IT service continuity management strategies. This includes ensuring that critical IT services can recover and continue after a disruption, thereby supporting overall business continuity.
Why It's Important
The ITIL framework is vital for a Business Continuity Manager as it provides a structured approach to managing and mitigating IT service disruptions, ensuring consistent and reliable IT service delivery, and enhancing organizational resilience against incidents and crises.
How to Improve ITIL Framework Skills
Improving the ITIL Framework, particularly from a Business Continuity Manager's perspective, involves enhancing the alignment between IT Service Management (ITSM) practices and business continuity planning (BCP). Here are concise steps to achieve this:
Integrate BCP into ITIL Processes: Ensure that business continuity considerations are embedded within each stage of the ITIL service lifecycle, from service design to continuous improvement. AXELOS provides guidance on integrating ITIL with business continuity.
Strengthen Service Continuity Management: Enhance ITIL's Service Design phase by incorporating robust disaster recovery planning, ensuring IT services can be restored quickly after an interruption. The Disaster Recovery Institute International offers resources for integrating disaster recovery with ITIL.
Leverage Technology for Resilience: Utilize cloud services and virtualization to improve the resilience of IT services. Cloud vendors like Amazon Web Services offer solutions that align with ITIL principles for disaster recovery.
Continuous Improvement: Regularly review and test business continuity plans as part of the ITIL Continual Service Improvement (CSI) phase. Tools like the Business Continuity Institute's Good Practice Guidelines provide a framework for continuous improvement in BCP.
Training and Awareness: Ensure that staff across the IT and business continuity teams are trained in both ITIL and BCP principles. The ITIL 4 Foundation and training from the Business Continuity Institute can enhance cross-functional understanding and collaboration.
By integrating business continuity planning into ITIL processes, businesses can enhance their resilience to disruptions while ensuring that IT services align with broader organizational needs.
How to Display ITIL Framework Skills on Your Resume
10. Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the internet, enabling businesses to access and store data, and use applications and resources on-demand without maintaining physical servers. For a Business Continuity Manager, it offers scalable, flexible solutions for disaster recovery and ensures uninterrupted business operations through remote data access and management.
Why It's Important
Cloud computing ensures data redundancy and seamless operation, enabling businesses to maintain continuity and quickly recover from disasters by providing scalable, on-demand access to resources and data from any location.
How to Improve Cloud Computing Skills
Improving cloud computing for a Business Continuity Manager involves focusing on enhancing resilience, ensuring data protection, and optimizing recovery strategies. Here are concise strategies:
Enhance Resilience: Implement multi-cloud strategies to avoid dependency on a single cloud provider, reducing the risk of outages. AWS Well-Architected Framework offers principles for designing resilient architectures.
Ensure Data Protection: Use encryption for data at rest and in transit, and regularly back up data across multiple locations. Microsoft Azure's security documentation provides best practices for securing cloud environments.
Optimize Recovery Strategies: Develop and periodically test disaster recovery plans to ensure rapid restoration of services. The Google Cloud disaster recovery planning guide outlines strategies for planning and implementing disaster recovery solutions.
By focusing on these areas, a Business Continuity Manager can significantly improve cloud computing resilience and readiness, ensuring business operations can withstand and quickly recover from disruptions.
How to Display Cloud Computing Skills on Your Resume
11. Cybersecurity Measures
Cybersecurity measures are strategies and tools implemented by organizations to protect their information systems and data from cyber threats such as hacking, viruses, and phishing. For a Business Continuity Manager, these measures are critical to ensuring that business operations can continue with minimal disruption in the face of cyber attacks.
Why It's Important
Cybersecurity measures are crucial for ensuring the continuity of business operations by protecting against data breaches, financial loss, and reputational damage, thereby maintaining trust and compliance.
How to Improve Cybersecurity Measures Skills
Improving cybersecurity measures is essential for a Business Continuity Manager to ensure the resilience and continuity of operations in the face of cyber threats. Here are concise strategies:
Conduct Regular Risk Assessments: Identify vulnerabilities by regularly assessing your IT infrastructure. NIST provides a framework for understanding and managing cybersecurity risk.
Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): MFA adds an extra layer of security beyond passwords. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) offers guidance on MFA implementation.
Regularly Update and Patch Systems: Keep software and systems up to date to protect against vulnerabilities. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) alerts on the latest vulnerabilities and patches.
Educate Employees: Conduct cybersecurity awareness training to reduce risks of phishing and social engineering attacks. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provides resources for businesses.
Develop and Test an Incident Response Plan: Prepare for potential cybersecurity incidents by developing and regularly testing a response plan. SANS Institute offers a guide for creating an incident response plan.
Backup Data Regularly: Ensure critical data is backed up and can be restored to prevent loss from ransomware or system failures. Ready.gov emphasizes the importance of secure and regular backups.
Encrypt Sensitive Data: Protect the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive information through encryption. GlobalSign explains the importance and methods of data encryption.
By adopting these measures, a Business Continuity Manager can significantly enhance an organization's cybersecurity posture, ensuring business operations can withstand and quickly recover from cyber incidents.
How to Display Cybersecurity Measures Skills on Your Resume
12. Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory compliance in the context of a Business Continuity Manager refers to the adherence to laws, regulations, guidelines, and specifications relevant to business operations and continuity planning. This ensures that the organization's response to disruptions is legally compliant and meets industry standards.
Why It's Important
Regulatory compliance is crucial for a Business Continuity Manager because it ensures that the organization adheres to legal standards and industry regulations, minimizing the risk of legal penalties and reputational damage. It also enhances trust among stakeholders and customers, ensuring that the business remains operational and resilient in the face of disruptions.
How to Improve Regulatory Compliance Skills
Improving regulatory compliance, especially from a Business Continuity Manager perspective, involves understanding and adhering to relevant laws, standards, and industry best practices to ensure the organization can continue critical operations under various scenarios. Here are concise steps with inline linking:
Stay Informed: Regularly update your knowledge on compliance requirements by visiting official regulatory bodies' websites like OSHA for occupational safety or FEMA for emergency management standards.
Risk Assessment: Conduct comprehensive risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities and ensure plans address compliance in all scenarios.
Training and Awareness: Implement ongoing training programs for staff on compliance matters related to business continuity.
Documentation: Maintain detailed and accessible records of compliance efforts, audits, and business continuity plans. The ISO 22301 standard provides guidelines for documentation requirements.
Continuous Improvement: Use audits and incident reviews to continuously improve your compliance posture and business continuity plans.
Engage with Experts: Consult with legal and compliance experts or utilize resources from compliance-focused organizations for specialized advice.
By following these steps and utilizing the resources provided, a Business Continuity Manager can significantly improve regulatory compliance within their organization.
How to Display Regulatory Compliance Skills on Your Resume
