BS25999Certification and Value

Chris Green

Chairman, BCM/1

What is Certification All About?

• CONFIDENCE– Demonstrating that the organization has a

BCMS conforming to 25999:2– Providing CONFIDENCE to the organization’s

customers and other stakeholders that the BCMS is effective in achieving the desired outputs

Accreditation Body(Accredited 3rd party)

Confidence

BCM/1

Confidence

Confidence

ConfidenceConfidence

“Ladder” of confidence-promoting activities

(ISO/CASCO)ISO 17011ISO 17021-1ISO 17021-2ISO 17024

Confidence

Organization(Self-declaration)

Customers(2nd party)

Certification Body(3rd party)

IAF Recognition

Interpretations

How to Provide Confidence?

Focus on results– Did the organisation improve its resilience

and recoverability? (Customers can’t see the BCMS)• If YES, Confidence in certification

INCREASES• If NO, customers lose confidence in

certification, and BS25999 credibility suffers

Ongoing Confidence

Good Guys and Bad Guys

• “Quality” organizations– Use BS25999:2 as part of an overall

philosophy. 25999 is a management tool – Driven by top management leadership– Results focused

• “Minimalist” organizations– “What’s the minimum we have to do to get the

certificate??”– Driven by fear, and customer pressure– May try to “cut corners”

Stratification of Organisations

• “Quality” Consultants– Knowledgeable– Business focused– Offer several solutions– Value-adding

• “Minimalist consultants”– Superficial knowledge– Sell documentation packages– “This is how it has to be done”– Not value

Stratification of Consultants

• Intelligent– Purchase based on overall life cycle cost

– Give credit for good quality / performance

• Ignorant– Purchase only based on cheapest price

Stratification of Purchasers

“GOOD GUYS”

CERT BODY

“MINIMALIST”“BAD GUYS”

“QUALITY”

ORGANIZATION CUSTOMER

Permutations

• Certification of management systems is not like other forms of conformity assessment (calibration, laboratory measurements, inspection etc)

• “Black or white” versus “Shades of grey”

We Know It’s Not Simple

Better81%

Worse0%

About the same19%

Better68%

Worse2%

About the same30%

Better86%

Worse1%

About the same13%

Better94%

Worse0%

About the same6%

ISO 9001-certified suppliers compared to non-certified suppliers in terms of:

Intrinsic product quality Associated service level

Complaints handling Overall perception

Brazil’s Experience

To Summarise:

• CONFIDENCE– Good certification builds stakeholder

confidence– Poor certification will damage the integrity of:

• YouYou• The standardThe standard• BCM as a disciplineBCM as a discipline

Thanks for Your Interest