Business continuity experts are great at identifying the problems – but not always so hot at finding the solutions, according to one of the founding gurus of the industry.

Lyndon Bird, chairman of the Business Continuity Institute and Managing Director of Continuity Planning Associates, accepts that the reason why the subject isn’t taken more seriously in the board room is that practitioners have too often provided ‘bureaucratic non-solutions’.

‘Too many boards simply don’t believe business continuity has a solution to their problems,’ he says. ‘We have done quite well at getting it to mean something at middle management level but that’s about it.

‘Business continuity is actually more relevant in a recession than in a boom. In a boom you are more likely to be able to buy your way out of trouble. But in times of recession some people make totally insane decisions. Too many companies blindly follow what their competitors are doing and cut back on the usual suspects – advertising, training, and consultancy - without any reference to whether it really makes sense.

‘Business continuity should be a major strategic part of the business management process. It will only get there if we stop focusing on problems and what could go wrong, and start talking about what could go right if you apply a proper holistic approach to business continuity throughout the organisation.’

Bird’s journey towards his current specialisation began from the unlikely starting point of a first class honours degree in chemistry from the University of Manchester. ‘I then decided I didn’t like chemistry and got myself enrolled at UMIST to do a management degree,’ he says.

A career in the plastics manufacturing industry followed, culminating in Bird’s appointment as European business systems manager for Borg Warner Chemicals in the Netherlands. In that role he was required to make regular presentations to the company’s senior managers from the US.

‘I just happened to mention in one of these meetings that we really ought to start thinking about doing more in the way of disaster recovery planning,’ he says, ‘and that was it. They fired questions at me for an hour.’

At about the same time Bird was approached by Ron Ginn, another ex-pat in the Netherlands, with an idea for a new venture in continuity planning. After a good deal of musing, he took the plunge.

‘It was a very difficult time. I made the mistake of thinking that as we were demonstrating there was a need for something then we would be able to convince people we had a solution. In fact there were very few people doing this sort of thing and we were pioneers. In the mid eighties the main job of consultants was either advising clients on which DR company to work with or advising them on recovering information from computers.

‘The focus on technology is an ongoing issue for the image of business continuity. In some cases the insidious nature of technology means it actually becomes the business, and in this situation it is obviously a critical focus for business continuity. But some people feel the industry is actually slipping back towards being “something for the nerds”. We have still not learned how to move forward from this position.

‘I am not a great believer in regulation and tying peoples’ hands. I am not convinced that committees and red tape achieve much. Surely we can make our case through intelligent argument and common sense observation. But we are now getting to the point where regulation might make people jump around. They might jump around in the wrong way but at least they will be doing something!’ Return to Menu...