Business Continuity Consulting Services
Spano Consulting takes a pragmatic and high-value approach to the business continuity services we offer. Since every organization has different requirements, our services and the solutions we provide will be custom tailored. Our service offering is organized into three categories: program assessments, full program implementations and specific program elements (à la carte). Please read over our services as described below and contact us if you have any questions or would like to learn more about our approach.
Business Continuity Program Assessment or Internal Audit Support
Spano Consulting helps organizations understand the current state of their business continuity programs. This can be done through a number of different ways, such as:
Benchmarking or maturity rating against peer organizations of like size and industry
Assessment of the program based on industry standards (ISO 22301, ISO 22317, NFPA 1600, BS 11200, etc.)
Audit of the program to support Internal Audit as a subject matter specialist
Assessment or audit of the program based on regulatory requirements (e.g., CFTC, FFIEC, FINRA, CMS, etc.)
Full Business Continuity Program Implementation
Spano Consulting specializes in building business continuity programs. We have extensive experience working with organizations to implement programs, either from scratch if none or little currently exists, or to update and enhance an existing program if an informal or outdated program is in place.
The following services focus on specific business continuity program elements if a full program implementation is not required. Spano Consulting can either help develop new elements or improve existing elements of a program.
Program Governance
Purpose: To provide management support and direction for the business continuity program. Governance documentation details the development and maintenance of the organization, processes and resources necessary for implementation and ongoing sustainability of a business continuity program.
Offering: We help our clients develop business continuity program policies, governance charters, program standards and other relevant program governance structures and documentation.
Business Impact Analysis
Purpose: To gather data on business processes and assets for the business continuity program, to determine the relative criticality of the business processes and to evaluate the impact to the organization in the event of a business interruption.
Offering: We help our clients perform business impact analyses using a hybrid top-down (executive input) and bottom-up (interviews of business process management and staff) approach. Potential impacts are identified (e.g., loss of revenue, brand/reputation impact) and quantified to produce impact and criticality ratings for each business process.
Recovery Strategy Development
Purpose: To identify, select and implement business process recovery capabilities that will enable the organization to maintain operations in the event of a business interruption.
Offering: We help our clients understand their recovery strategy current state and determine the optimal future state with a focus on impairment scenarios (rather than specific events): loss of facility, technology, personnel and third party.
Business Continuity Plan Development
Purpose: To document the resource requirements and necessary steps for responding to business interruptions to maintain operations.
Offering: We help our clients develop straightforward and actionable plans that utilize the data gathered during the business impact analysis and are applied to the recovery strategies for the four impairment scenarios in order to achieve recovery objectives.
Plan Testing/Exercises
Purpose: To demonstrate business continuity plan functionality and identify areas of improvement for plan enhancement.
Offering: We help our clients test the viability of their business continuity plans by offering testing exercises that vary by degree of involvement and scale, ranging from simple plan walkthroughs to table-top exercises that involve stakeholders throughout the entire organization.
Business Continuity Training And Awareness
Purpose: To ensure staff and stakeholders are informed of their roles and responsibilities for the business continuity program.
Offering: We help our clients develop training programs and conduct training sessions to educate personnel that are directly involved in the business continuity program to ensure the program’s sustainability and success.