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Each year, the industry's top experts come together with the Disaster Resource GUIDE
to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing the business continuity and emergency
management industry. And every year, a common theme is the need for industry certification.
Whether it is emergency management, business continuity or organizational resilience, many of the experts we speak to agree industry certification has not really been recognized, nor given the credibility it needs. But that is beginning to change. This year, we asked industry experts and representatives from a few of the various certification bodies to give their takes on what certification means today - and where we should go tomorrow.
There are other certifications relevant to the industry; the four authors here focus particularly on either business continuity or emergency management. For information on other certification organizations, please visit www.disaster-resource.com.
By Alan Berman
It's probably best to assess what the future holds for Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BCP) certification by looking at how other similar professional disciplines evolved from their embryonic state to the maturation of the discipline. The best parallel is to look at the history of information technology professionals.
Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) started in 1967 as the vision of a small group of IT auditors who saw the need for a centralized source of information and guidance in the emerging field of information technology. In 1976, ISACA formed an education foundation to help expand the knowledge of IT governance.
Under the ISACA banner emerged two certifications: Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM). These certifications have defined the global standards for professionals in their respective disciplines. The evolution of ISACA's professional certification has developed in the thirty years of its existence.
A similar history belongs to the field of business continuity. Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII, www.drii.org) was established in 1988 with the express mission of educating and certifying Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery professionals. DRII's charter was to "develop a base of knowledge in contingency planning and the management of risk." From that grew an education program to help define the professional practices. The certification levels ranged from those with no experience (ABCP), to those with limited experience (CFCP), to those with enterprise-wide experience (CBCP) and finally those with advanced experience and knowledge (MBCP).
These credentials help employers identify the right skill level for the positions they seek to fill. The marketplace recognizes the value of certifying both knowledge and experience and recognizes that certified professionals merit higher salaries and positions.
The future for BCP credentialing lies in the ability to expand into a wider arena. There are a number of universities and colleges who now offer risk management degrees as part of MBA and undergraduate programs. The inclusion of BCP as a core component of risk management disciplines is presenting an opportunity to reach a wider, more broad based opportunity.
DRII is working with a number of higher education institutes to imbed our education program within the school's curriculum. This would mean that not only would a student get an advanced degree (or certificate), but by passing the DRII exam, as part of their coursework, they would also be eligible to gain a professional certification designation by successfully completing the DRII application process. This would lead to a new generation of college and university trained professionals to enter the marketplace with the knowledge to help public and private sector organizations meet the challenges that face the world today and tomorrow.
About the Author
Alan Berman is a Certified Business Continuity Professional, a Member of Business Continuity Institute, a Certified State Division of Insurance Instructor and a member of the New York City Partnership Security and Risk Management Task Force.
By Chris Green
Business continuity is developing as a profession in a manner that would have seemed hardly possible a few years ago. Over the past decade, many people have traveled through business continuity on their way to other roles. Many companies saw BC as a place to park someone while they worked out where they should really be. Naturally, that led to a high turnover of knowledge and skill, as well as a lack of understanding about what BC entailed and what benefits it could deliver to an organization.
I've always been sceptical of the "anyone can do BC" mentality. I've never heard anyone say "anyone can be Head of Audit," or "anyone can do the management accounts this month." It trivializes BC to treat it in that manner.
Thankfully, that mindset is changing, and BC is increasingly seen as a valid career choice with genuine prospects for personal advancement. A key challenge for the Business Continuity Institute (BCI, www.thebci.org) and other professional organizations is to provide tools for the trade.
At BCI, which was founded in 1994, we're focusing on three aspects for growing the BC industry: professionalism, products and promotion. This will help practitioners address many of the issues they face in their working lives.
Professionalism: Every industry and specialization needs its own accreditation and recognition process. The BCI wants to offer a standard to which people aspire and which employers recognize as a mark of competence. This needs to be supported by continuing professional development (CPD) to demonstrate increasing standards.
Products: To support professionals, we need to provide products that help people with their jobs: Training, conferences, journals, seminars, books, videos, guidance brochures, special interest groups and more, thus enabling practitioners to learn individually and from each other.
Promotion: Our industry needs to keep itself on the radar of government and business. We need to lobby relevant organizations and agencies, to get them to support BC across our communities and to recognize its value. Within the corporate world, we need firms to support the efforts of BC professionals to protect revenues and reputations.
One of the biggest developments of the past year has been the publication of the world's first standard on business continuity, BS25999. Although a British standard, the interest from around the world has been phenomenal and it is rapidly spreading through the marketplace.
BS25999 is a key input to a draft standard being developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO). Many ISO standards are well-established in the market, and we may see an ISO BC standard take its place - and if we call it operational continuity rather than business continuity, so be it.
The interest in BC is at an all-time high. There is a real opportunity for the professional organizations to meet a need at an individual and organizational level and help the industry grow and prosper.
About the Author
Chris Green is Chair of the Business Continuity Institute.
By Elizabeth B. Armstrong
The future of emergency management certification is a key issue for the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). Our organization was founded in 1952 as the US Civil Defense Council, and we created our own certification program, the Certified Emergency Manager© (CEM) program, to raise and maintain professional standards and certify achievements within the emergency management profession.
The core issue is that, in the past, it was difficult for emergency managers around the globe to get recognition of their skills, not to mention additional professional training. Our goals have been to establish a core body of knowledge and universal test items for all emergency managers, regardless of geographic location.
We worked with representatives from the various countries to define the content of our own program. Today, the CEM® program requires: Three years of EM experience; references; a four-year baccalaureate degree, with some substitution of experience; training that includes 100 contact hours in EM and 100 contact hours in general management; professional contributions in areas such as professional membership, speaking, publishing articles, serving on volunteer boards or committees and other areas beyond the scope of EM job requirements; demonstration of knowledge, skills and abilities through response to real-life scenarios in the management essay, and; a 100-question multiple-choice exam.
For the future, it's important to open certification up to as many professionals as possible. One of the biggest issues facing today's emergency managers is accessibility. We're trying to offer the program at more locations, on more dates. We're also trying to bring components of the process online to increase accessibility to EM practitioners in rural areas.
As of May 2007, 3,200 applicants have enrolled in the CEM© program and 1,069 have achieved the CEM© designation. Vice Admiral Harvey Johnson, Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), recently expressed his hope that all FEMA Field Coordinating Officers (FCOs) would seek the CEM© designation as part of their professional development.
About the Author
Elizabeth B. Armstrong, MAM, CAE, is Executive Director of the International Association of Emergency Managers.
By James I. Nelson
The International Consortium for Organizational Resilience, founded in 2005, (www.theicor.org) was created to bring together the many silos, professions, or separate bodies of knowledge that together support resiliency into one profession entitled "Organizational Resilience." We believe the Organizational Resilience profession is the future. It is imperative to recognize and facilitate cooperation amongst these related professions in order to build resilient organizations, communities and individuals.
ICOR has established education, research and credentialing offerings. These offerings encompass 10 distinct professional disciplines including business continuity, crisis management and communication, critical infrastructure, emergency management, facility management, legal compliance and audit, organizational behavior, risk management and insurance, social resilience, and supply chain, logistics and transportation management.
The ICOR vision includes facilitating cooperation with the professionals and their related certifying bodies in our organizational resilience certification program. This includes recognizing existing certifications, building upon these competencies to meet the evolving needs of professionals and to expand their knowledge, experience and credentials. We recognize that it is important to leverage, share and learn from the hard work professionals have done in the past if we want them to continue to develop resilient organizations in the future.
Our innovative credentialing process meets the diverse needs in the marketplace and allows professionals to move both horizontally and vertically through the various resiliency disciplines. This enables professionals to gain both a broad based understanding of resiliency and also specific expertise in order to meet their career goals and provide leadership in their organizations and communities.
Certified professionals will help to embed resilience in their organizations and lead in making decisions that will save lives, resources and reputations. These professionals will have access to the skills, abilities and training required to build resilient organizations and to improve the resilience of the communities in which they live.
About the Author
James I. Nelson MS, MBCP, CDCP is Board Chairman of the International Consortium for Organizational Resilience (ICOR).
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