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I’ve been caught by many people mentioning the term “Alternative Management Plan” for their business. If the term has been used in the business continuity management industry in the past, I’ve not heard it before I decided to begin using it myself. So if there is another industry definition you may know about, please leave a comment and let me know.
My personal definition is:
Alternative Management Plan – a holistically defined effective and efficient management process that establishes potential risks and provides alternative management processes to be utilized by a business in a crisis situation.
Let’s face it – in the event that a crisis occurs and affects the ability of a business to provide the products and/or services it normally produces, there must exist another method for management of that business. A documented plan that is effective and efficient must exist so that management of the business understands how to react to the crisis.
The Disaster Recovery Institute International has defined under their Professional Practices for Business Continuity Practitioners a similar term as follows:
Business Continuity Management - a holistic management process that identifies
potential impacts that threaten an organization and provides a framework for building resilience with the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation and value creating activities.
The three keys to these two similar definitions are:
- both focus on management processes
- both feature defined processes that are called upon when a business crisis exists
- both must be effective
I, myself, utilize these two terms interchangeably. But I find it much easier to utilize my term when conversing with business managers. Likely because the words “Alternative”, “Management”, and “Plan” are more easily comprehended in the business world. I find that the word “Continuity” just doesn’t resonate with business managers.
Thus, an alternative management plan is essentially a business continuity management process. And additionally, an alternative management program would be the same as a business continuity management program. In either case, it is important to converse with industry experts whenever addressing the preparation for a business crisis.
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Thanks for the info.