Study on maturity of business continuity management and ICT reliance in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Organizations are more and more concerned about the risks that threaten the continuity of their business. Among many other factors, the increasing reliance on ICT and other technologies make organizations more vulnerable and influence a rise in attention for continuity. The aim of this research is to contribute new knowledge to help to fill the Business Continuity gap in Sri Lankan organizations who are increasingly rely on ICT. ICT is the backbone of business today. Recovery time objectives have been shrinking. Organizations occupy themselves with BCM to assure the continuity of their business. The population of this study is all the public and private sector organizations reside in Sri Lanka who uses ICT in achieving their operational and strategic objectives. The research studied thirty three organizations across ten industries to achieve three main objectives. The context of this cross industry research includes the topics ICT reliance and business continuity. According to the research findings the organizations are relying on ICT on achieving their operational objectives more (64%), over strategic objectives (55%). The overall reliance on ICT has reported as 59%. Therefore it is important to notice that more than 50% of achievement of their operational and strategic objectives depends on ICT. The top management's commitment and leadership shown towards better BCM process seems 'almost high'. The organizations' effectiveness and efficiency on having good BCM processes is about 65%. This means the organizations have more room to develop in the BCM discipline. Some positive relationship exists between 'reliance on ICT' and the 'maturity level of BCM'. By looking at the outcome of the result on average, the Sri Lankan organization mat uses ICT for their operations have initiated the Business Continuity Management process, however they still have enough room to make those efforts more effective and efficient