BCM, BCP, RTO, RPO, BIA, CMT, IMT, MCA, MTPD*, etc, etc…..what on earth is that all about?

In common with many industries, the business continuity world is awash with acronyms, abbreviations and jargon. And whilst this is all very well for your average business continuity manager or consultant when they’re speaking to another business continuity “expert”, actually most business users aren’t fluent in BCM-speak.

Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. If someone came to you asking you to do a whole load of seemingly new or additional stuff, who at best seemed to want to blind you with science and at worst appeared to be speaking complete and utter gobbledegook, how would you feel?

So if you want to engage the business, rather than having them glaze over when you talk to them, then why not speak in terms that the business understands? Otherwise there’s a risk that the business won’t buy-in to what you’re trying to do, or there will be misunderstandings that can scupper your plans.

*Just in case you were wondering : BCM = business continuity management; BCP = business continuity plan;   RTO = recovery time objective; RPO = recovery point objective; BIA = business impact analysis; CMT = crisis management team; IMT = incident management team; MCA = mission critical activity; MTPD = maximum tolerable period of disruption (aaaargh!)