Operational Resilience Fallacies
With just about a year left for implementing the Cross Industry Guidance on Operational Resilience (suggested timeline from Central Bank of Ireland), there is a sudden flurry of activity to get things done — somehow.
Why “somehow” ?
Because, you will soon hear of quick-fire hacks for achieving compliance.
These are some things to keep in mind when you hear about this subject:
- Operational Resilience is NOT just about being compliant to the Central Bank’s Guidelines. It is much more than that. It is an opportunity to re-evaluate your operational value delivery mechanisms from a member/customer perspective. And build resilience in what matters most to your customer. When you do that, compliance is a good “side-effect”.
- Operational Resilience is NOT centred around YOU! It is centred around your member/customer! The Central Bank guidance is very specific on how the “process criticality” element is defined.
- Operational Resilience is NOT just about mapping your IT and Backoffice system processes. Its scope encompasses everything that is required to deliver your products and services to your member/customer. That includes your people, processes, their interactions, habits and behaviours which are beyond IT service providers and Backoffice systems processes.
The guidelines from Central Bank of Ireland should be seen as a huge opportunity than just a compliance requirement.
As you go through the resilience building effort, you will see your business in new light! You will see your business through diagrams, interdependencies’ maps, process and product risk factors, mitigation plans, scenario tests and updated living documentation that finally makes sense to everyone. This creates a solid foundation for business agility and growth.
This project is that long pending retrospective that all businesses want to do, but never get to. The suggested timeline from Central Bank is a good wake-up call. It is never too late to get started.
And while you are at it, why don’t we attempt to do it right!
