Principles and Practice of Business Continuity: Tools and Techniques, Second Edition

Are you are a Business Continuity Manager or training for the job? Are you ready to keep the business up and running in the face of emergencies ranging from earthquakes to accidents to fires to computer crashes? In this second edition of Principles and Practice of Business Continuity: Tools and Techniques, Jim Burtles explains six main scenarios. He promises: “If you and your organization are prepared to deal with these six generic risks, you will be able to recover from any business disaster.”

Using his decades of experience, Burtles speaks to you directly and personally, walking you through handling any contingency. He tells you how to bring people together to win executive support, create a Business Continuity Plan, organize response teams, and recover from the disruption. His simple, step-by-step actions and real-world examples give you the confidence to get the job done.

To help you along, each chapter of Principles and Practice of Business Continuity: Tools and Techniques starts with learning objectives and ends with a multiple-choice self-examination covering the main points. Thought-provoking exercises at the end of each chapter help you to apply the materials from the chapter to your own experience. In addition, you will find a glossary of the key terms currently in use in the industry and a full index. For further in-depth study, you may download the Business Continuity Toolkit, a wealth of special online material prepared for you by Jim Burtles.

The book is organized around the phases of planning for and achieving resiliency in an organization:

• Part I: Preparation and Startup
• Part II: Building a Foundation
• Part III: Responding and Recovering
• Part IV: Planning and Implementing
• Part V: Long-term Continuity

Are you a professor or a leader of seminars or workshops? On course adoption of Principles and Practice of Business Continuity: Tools and Techniques, you will have access to an Instructor’s Manual, Test Bank, and a full set of PowerPoint slides.

And, as a bonus for further in-depth study, students may download a wealth of custom online material – extensive tools, templates, and reference materials – specially prepared by Jim Burtles.

About the Author

Jim Burtles KLJ, MMLJ, Hon FBCI is a well-known and respected leader within the business continuity profession. Now semi-retired and living in West London, he can look back and reflect upon the lessons learned from a wealth of experience gained in some 40 years of practice, spread across 4 continents and 24 countries. He was granted Freedom of the City of London in 1992, received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) in 2010. In 2005, he was granted the rank of a Knight of Grace in the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, an ancient and charitable order which cares for those afflicted with leprosy and similar debilitating diseases.

Working as an IBM field engineer, in the mid-70s he took on the role of a rescue engineer, helping customers recover their damaged systems in the wake of fires, floods, and bombings. This type of work was the beginning of what later became known as disaster recovery. During the 80s, he became an early pioneer of what was then the emerging business continuity profession. In 1994 he helped to found the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) and now serves on its Global Membership Council, representing the interests of the worldwide membership. His practical experience includes hands-on recovery work with victims of traumatic events such as explosions, earthquakes, storms, and fires. This includes technical assistance and support in 90-odd disasters, as well as advice and guidance for clients in over 200 emergency situations.

Over the past 40 years, Jim Burtles has introduced more than 3,500 people into the business continuity profession through formal training programs and has provided specialist training for another 800 or so through workshops covering specific subjects or skill areas. For several years he was a regular visiting lecturer at Coventry University.

Recent published works include Coping with a Crisis: A Counselor s Guide to the Restabilization Process, 2011, and Emergency Evacuation Planning for Your Workplace: From Chaos to Life-Saving Solutions, published by Rothstein Publishing in August 2013.