Ali Al Yafei, Chairperson, Business Continuity Institute-Qatar Forum (BCIQF), a non-profit organization working under the umbrella of the UK-based-BCI
The Supreme Committee for Crisis Management in Qatar’s ‘combating COVID-19’ strategies helped mitigate the inherent risks of the pandemic in a big way. Most organisations and businesses with fully developed Business Continuity Management (BCM) plans could make greater progress in re-organising the pandemic response. Unfortunately, certain sectors, which do not have a BCM plan in place, will have to pay an extra price,before they are back to their business, according to an expert.
For instance, the SMEs, especially those which underestimated the importance of BCM plan, are the most impacted sector due to poor business planning, inopportune business priority setting by not having BCM in place. Many of them have suffered moderate to significant financial losses which might cause even business closure, Ali Al Yafei, Chairperson, Business Continuity Institute-Qatar Forum (BCIQF), a non-profit organization working under the umbrella of the UK-based-BCI, told The Peninsula in an interview.
Commenting on the importance of BCM, Al Yafei said: “Considering the latest COVID-19 developments, it has quickly become apparent that we are embarking on uncharted territory. I believe that the Pandemic Response plans within the BCM plans were insufficient to handle this COVID-19 crisis which has presented itself on a global scale. However, organisations with fully developed BCM plans could make greater progress in re-organizing the Pandemic response as the critical nature of the organization would have been determined, the critical activities and the critical staff identified and recovery measures tested. Pandemic response plans are very intrinsic to the Business Continuity planning which help minimise the impacts, be it financial, reputational, regulatory or legal.” He added: “A pandemic response plan will guide the organization to minimize risk of infections at office premises by social distancing, sanitization, deep cleaning, temperature scanning at entrances etc. and also in managing the work from home protocols, reduced staffing in office premises, mobility of staff during lockdown scenarios, and so on.”
On companies which see BCM as additional burden he said its like “by the time you hear the thunder, it’s too late to build the ark”, situaiton. Regrettably, SMEs underestimate the importance of the BCM system and its testing.
Organizations of all domains are encouraged to strategise and implement business continuity plans to minimise disruption to their operations and ensure that business remains viable during any contingencies such a virus outbreak or other disruptive events.
These plans come handy in further developing appropriate response plans for unprecedented situations like COVID-19 within a short span avoiding major impact and sustaining critical business activities.
Asked if he expect any change in response and attitude of companies, especially the SMEs, towards BCM in the post-COVID-19 era, he said: “In late December 2019, the entire globe embarked on an unexplored modern pandemic which demonstrates how quickly corporate risk turns to a crisis with emergent challenges and consequences. Unfortunately, SMEs are the most impacted sector due to unfortunate preparedness, poor business planning, inopportune business priority setting by not having BCM in place and suffered moderate to significant financial loss which might cause business closure.”
Al Yafei added: “I believe that post COVID-19, not only SMEs but all organisations, will begin to adopt the BCM concepts and start to incorporate it as part of their inherent culture. The government and the regulators will mandate the inclusion of business continuity plans to sustain any short term or long term interruptions to strengthen the overall nationwide response plan to such crises situations. This is clearly evident even in the current nationwide response plan in handling this crisis from shutting down all sectors except the essential ones with minimum impact to the citizens and residents of the country, which is very commendable.”
Business Continuity planning helps enterprises to respond to the uncharted circumstances like the COVID-19. This may cover key business operational risks pertaining to Business Processes and Functions, Communications, both internal and external and Supplier & Customer Management, employee morale, Cybersecurity Threat, work from home plans and adoption of digitalization, artificial intelligence, robotic process automation technologies etc. Companies equipped with BCM provisions have anticipated the risks well in advance and expected to perform significantly better to cope-up with emerging dramatic challenges by rigorous series of strategies, business priority setting, by early detection of possible financial impact, safeguard employees, remote working capabilities, IT infrastructure, management of cyber security threats, technology bandwidth, etc.
He noted that government’s efforts led by the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management provided demonstrative and robust strategies that contributed positively to mitigate the inherent risks at a breakneck speed containing the situation which is commended at a global platform. Moreover, persistence and leadership of BC equipped companies have contributed expressively in advance planning to anticipate and mitigate potential financial impact; thus, put in place rigorous strategies to tackle and preserve enterprises’ value and reputation and most importantly human lives.
“Unprecedented crisis indeed requires exceptional preparation, planning and in my view, by doing so, companies would indeed begin to immediately respond and begin recovery as the incident occurs, and businesses without BC management are left with a dramatic potential lucky escape or unfortunate outcome,” Al Yafei pointed out.
