What is ISO 22301?

ISO 22301 is a management systems standard for business continuity which can be used by organizations of all sizes and types. These organizations will be able to obtain certification against this standard and demonstrate to legislators, regulators, customers, prospective customers and other interested parties that they are adhering to good practices in business continuity . ISO 22301 also enables the business continuity manager to show top management that a recognized standard has been achieved.

Incidents can disrupt an organization at any time and applying ISO 22301 will ensure that organizations can respond and continue its operations. Incidents take many forms ranging from large scale natural disasters and acts of terror to technology-related accidents and environmental incidents. However, most incidents are small but can have a significant impact and that makes business continuity management relevant at all times.

ISO 22301 provides a framework to plan, establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain and continually improve a business continuity management system (BCMS). It is expected to help organizations protect against, prepare for, respond to, and recover when disruptive incidents arise.

ISO 22301 is the first standard published which is aligned with the new ISO format for writing management systems standards. This will ease understanding and ensure consistency with other management systems, such as ISO 9001 (quality management), ISO 14001 (environmental management) and ISO/IEC 27001 (information security management).

Benefits of ISO 22301

• Minimise organization disruption
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Sales and marketing advantages
• Continuous improvement
• Greater control over processes and internal systems
• Access new markets and clients
• Industry best practise
• Demonstrates your commitment to disaster recovery