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Aon urges SME risk protection

Published On 12 March 2007 at 17:22:29

Consultancy firm Aon has warned that SMEs and other businesses in the UK should be preparing for what could prove to be a particularly risky year.

Its '2007 Risk Report' warns senior management figures to "take the lead in stepping up their business continuity plans in the face of major risk challenges".

It also claims that business continuity management (BCM) is an increasingly important process and that it can mean the difference between business collapse and survival. Despite this, many managers are neglecting to put this into practice.

"The main reason some companies are still holding back from BCM is that establishing an effective programme requires the most precious resource of all, namely senior management time, while appearing to yield little in the way of return should the disaster never strike," said Hugh Leighton, Aon risk consultant director.

BCM is a process that enables companies to resume their business operations if they are hit by an emergency or disaster - for example, loss of power or a pandemic illness.

Managers need to be particularly aware of pandemics and network risks. In terms of pandemic illnesses such as H5N1 bird flu, business continuity plans will help to protect the business when employees are out of action.

In terms of IT security and network risks, companies need to protect themselves against fraud and data loss.

Meanwhile, according to new research from the Computing Technology Industry Association, many users of managed IT services are due to make security services a priority in 2007.

 

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