2009 Press Releases

[Singapore, 23 October 2009] BCM Institute had once again organized another of its successful Meet-The-Expert (MTE) event which drew the support of more than 120 Information Technology, Information Security and senior management.   These professionals comes from the varied industries to gather at the Holiday Inn Atrium for an afternoon of informative sharing and technology updating session.  The theme is “Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Strategies.”  This is the second time that the institute had organized an IT disaster recovery theme talk of which, 75% of the participants who had registered are attending our MTE for the first time and they are not our certified members.  This seminar is to bring the real life experiences and practicalities of implementing disaster recovery strategies that is taught as part of the institute's DRP-5000 course.

Read more: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Strategies Seminar

A Manager’s Guide of SS540 Singapore Standard for Business Continuity Management

Having completed the 7-book Business Continuity Managment Book Series, Dr Goh Moh Heng, President of BCM Institute had launch the first of the BCM Specialist Book Series.   This new book aims to prepares the reader to apply the Singapore Standard SS 540 framework, principles and methodologies for the implementation of the BC Plan. Dr Goh highlighted that this is the "readable English version of the Singapore Standard SS 540:2008."  The book is kindly forwarded by Mr Teng Theng Dar, CEO, Singapore Business Federations and Mr Dan Steele, Chairman of Business Continuity Council.  In January 2010, this book will be the standard textbook for SS 540 related courses such as the BCM-240: Fundalmentals of BCM with SS 540, BCM-354: Implementing BCM with SS540 and BCM-840: BCM Audit.

Using the BCM Areas and Components framework as spelled out in the Singapore Standard, this book provides a clear explanation of the standard and it elaborates on the “How-to” aspect in implementing your business continuity programme and plans.

Read more: Launch of "A Manager’s Guide of SS540 Singapore Standard for BCM" book

Covering the South Asia and Middle East part of the world is BCM Institute India. Since early April this year, BCM Institute India was kept busy with the increased enrolment in their courses. Till September 2009, in spite of the recession, BCM Institute in India has seen their way through more courses with more than 80 new participants during the last 5 months. The heightened rate of enrolments was attributed to the resilient Indian and Middle East economies. With the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai and Karachi, this region is placing more reliance on its business continuity and disaster recovery professionals. The requirement for such professionals by both the government and business sectors and with the India being a potential hub for BCM and DR activities, this has generated the demand for more training and certification by BCM Institute. With more and more disasters rearing its ugly head, demand for the institute’s certified professionals had increased.

Read more: BCM Institute’s Encouraging Enrolment in India and Middle East

BCM Institute is proud to  launched its new revised 5000 series: This advanced level of courses designed specifically to cater to professionals who have prior DR and BC experience.  The course will train practitioners to implement the BCM Planning Methodology with any of the national BCM standards such as BS 25999, SS540, NFPA 1600 and the upcoming ANZ 5050 standards.  Till today, the Institute has conducted more than 12 BCM-5000 and DRP-5000 courses over the last 6 months, participated by an average of 15 participants per course.  Interestingly, these courses are open to professionals with no prior experience but are keen to embrace from the entire BCM Body of Knowledge and are prepared to be certified with a lower level certification as compared to the Business Continuity Certified Expert (BCCE) or Disaster Recovery Certified Expert (DRCE).

Read more: BCM Institute Delivers Updated Advanced BCM and DRP Courses

In support of the Singapore National BCM programme, BCM Institute has  launched the BCM-354: Implementing BCM with SS540 earlier this year. The BCM-354 is a three and a half day course that is designed to assist participants in the understanding of fundamental BCM concepts and BCM planning methodology in relation to the Singapore Standard SS540. The institute has seen more than three courses with 15 to 18 participants for each course. Again, with the growing interest and support from the government, we are expecting more to follow in the near future.

This fast-tracked, hands-on BCM course is recognised and 80% funded by the Singapore government. We are proud that at least three of our client organizations will achieve their SS540 certification by 2010. All participants who had successfully passed the certification examination were awarded the Business Continuity Certified Planner or BCCP.  We have another 10 organizations awaiting to start their journey with us during the start of 2010.

Read more: Singapore First Official BCM SS540 ImplementationTraining Program

[Translated to English from Sin Chew Daily, Malaysia]  The economic crisis began from  the US and expanded to Europe, Asia and almost every country in the world thereafter. During this time, an enterprise which can survive and continue to progress is tied to its good risk management and business continuity practices! Basically, all banks have limited capital under the attack of an economic downturn. Therefore, an enterprise or company depends on other parties’ financing might to face the risk of an unstable operation due to the high cost of investment. While enterprises with low debt and high cash may grab the opportunity for acquisition and expansion, the same cannot be said for companies that do not have a good business continuity practice in place. “The first concern during the economic downturn is to know whether the fund is sufficient. Usually, banks has a risk management committee in the company to manage these risks, and they will rescue the company accordingly,” said Dr. Goh Moh Heng, President of BCM Institute.

BCM Institute & Temasek Polytechnic Jointly Launched the Professional Development Certificate in BCM

BCM Institute and Temasek Polytechnic launched its Professional Development Certificate in Business Continuity course without much fanfare, enrollment hit a high of 50 new participants and counting.

Through a special partnership, BCM Institute introduced a new initiative, by partnering Temasek Polytechnic to develop a special Professional Development Certificate (PDC) in Business Continuity; this is fully taught within the Polytechnic. This is a special BCM 240: Fundamentals of BCM with SS540 course for the busy working adults; this includes the Senior and Middle Managers, Department Representatives, Business Unit Coordinators, Organizational Business Continuity Managers and Planners.

Read more: Dual BCM Certification with Temasek Polytechnic

[Singapore, 15 August 2009] The BCM Institute and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) had jointly organized the “Implementing an Affordable and Painless BCM with SS540 Certification” at the institute's Meet-The-Experts (MTE) seminar. More than 120 members from all industries had benefited from the detailed elaboration by Dr Goh Moh Heng, President of BCM Institute, on how to develop and implement using an “optimized” approach.  Dr Goh shared the good practice business continuity implementation roadmap for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and how a SME can keep its investments in both time and resources to the lowest, and yet at the same time achieve the BCM and SS540 certification requirements. Following the implementation of BCM presentation, is the funding from the Singapore government.  Mr Roland Teo, Deputy Director, Capacity Building Division, Singapore Business Federation (SBF), provided an overview of the incentives, grants and the application/submission processes under the National BCM Programme and how it applies to the organisations.

Read more: Implementing an Affordable and Painless BCM with SS540 Certification

[Singapore, 17th August 2009] BCM Institute and Temasek Polytechnic (TP) had launched its inaugural "Professional Development Certificate in Business Continuity Management" course.  Without much fanfare, enrollment had hit a high of 50 participants and TP is still conducting its enrolment.

Via this special partnership, successful candidates who had attended the course by TP and completed the certification examination will be issued with the Professional Development Certificate (PDC) in Business Continuity Management.  In addition, they are also awarded the BCM Institute's Business Continuity Certified Planner (BCCP) certification.  The course is fully conducted within TP and this special BCM 240: SS540 BCM Framework course is designed for the busy working adults.

Read more: BCM Institute & Temasek Polytechnic (TP) Jointly Launched the Professional Development Certificate (PDC) in BCM

Read more: Corporate Guidance on H1N1 Influenza Pandemic Preparedness

Dear Fellow Members,

The time has come to celebrate the Indian Festival of Lights.

We at BCM Institute wishes all our fellow Indian members and our India Office a "HAPPY DEEPAVALI"

To learn more about the Festival of Lights please read on

 

Read more: HAPPY DEEPAVALI From BCM Institute

[Singapore, 22 July 2009] Human Resource and Business Continuity Planning, BCP: The Challenges in Asia for H1N1 Outbreak. With the current case of the Influenza A (H1N1) reaching above the 1,000 mark in Singapore. Dr Goh Moh Heng, President, BCM Institute was invited to share his experience in a special dialogue session at the Singapore Human Resource Institution better known as SHRI. Dr Goh shared with senior Human Resource practitioners, the best practices around the region.  He had also provided insightful thoughts to organizations and provided good practices for business realign and for adapting their respective business strategies to cope and survive the influenza pandemic wave transmitting throughout the globe.

[Singapore, 11 May 2009] Briefing on Influenza A (H1N1-2009) & Business Continuity Management, organized by Singapore Business Federation was held in Singapore on 11 May 2009. More than 1000 members turn up to understand how to prepare their organization for the flu outbreak. Dr Goh Moh Heng , President of BCM Institute, presented on“How to get your BCM plan up to speed for the Influenza A (H1N1-2009)”.

 

Read more: Are you Pandemic Flu resistant?

[Singapore, 14 May 2009] The Business Times.  The Influenza A (H1N1) risk seems to have abated in recent days, but health experts told human resource officers from local companies yesterday that they should keep their guard up.The executives from companies large and small were advised to stay vigilant and not assume that the worst cannot happen here, despite the Government lowering the alert from orange to yellow yesterday.

Dr Goh Moh Heng, president of the Singapore-based Business Continuity Management Institute, cautioned that while there are no reported H1N1 cases here, companies must be prepared as the disruption of business is inevitable once there is an outbreak.  "In my opinion, we are going to be hit by a second wave. The question is in what form and how severe it is," Dr Goh told 1,000 executives-mainly human resource staff-from small and medium-sized companies at the seminar at Suntec City.

Read more: Singapore Businesses told to stay alert with Influenza A (H1N1) risk

[Wednesday, 13 May 2009] The Straits Times.  Business continuity plans (BCP) are necessary for managing an unexpected crisis, such as the ongoing Influenza A, so that businesses can operate as usual.That, however, is not all there is to crisis management, which requires organizations to know how to execute those plans. In Japan, for instance, BCP is viewed in the same light as crisis management.To standardize about 250 terms used in a business continuity management (BCM) course, a training institute here turned to the Wiki community.

The Business Continuity Management Institute (BCM Institute) runs certification courses on BCM for students in 36 countries. Said BCM Institute's president Goh Moh Heng: “Arguments over terminology between instructors were common because they don’t speak the same language and they come from different professional and cultural backgrounds.”

Read more: Speaking the Same Business Continuity Management (BCM) Language, BCMpedia

一輪金融海嘯由美國蕩開，效應擴大至歐洲乃至亞洲，全球幾乎無一地區倖免。這當口，企業若能在海嘯襲擊下前進和生存，靠的是平時的風險管理與永續經營！中國人或華人有兩句話很有智慧，其一是“居安思危”、二是“勤存隔夜糧”，萬萬勿患上“寅吃卯糧”大不韙。基本上，金融海嘯襲擊下，各銀行資金短絀，因此靠融資營運的企業與公司，可能融資因成本高，而面臨營運不順風險。低負債率、現金雄厚的企業則有望在危機中，獲得了俯拾皆是的併購、擴展良機。

Read more: 永續經營不二法則‧企業作好風險管理抗風暴

[Singapore, 12 May 2009] Business Times.The vital necessity to put BCPs in place urgently hasn't sunk in yet. IN THE past two weeks, the authorities have moved swiftly to minimise the chances of an outbreak of swine flu in Singapore, with two alert level upgrades - then a downgrade yesterday.Amid the flurry of activity, you would expect every organisation here to have woken up to the need to put business continuity plans (BCPs) in place in case the virus hits.Of course, most have. But not all are treating the threat so seriously, it would seem.

Contingency consulting firms say there has been an increase in enquiries, but most have come from government agencies and larger firms. Although a handful of SMEs have shown interest, it would seem the sector is a laggard.

'There is an increasing trend for SMEs, like multinational corporations, to start to see the benefits of BCP in uncertain times,' says Control Risk's director of crisis and security consulting in South-east Asia, Bruce Hayes. 'But in terms of preparedness, SMEs are lagging MNCs and governments.' Dr Goh Moh Heng, President of BCM Institute.

• Read Live from Business Times (Singapore)

Read more: SMEs underprepared for business continuity management, BCM

BCM Institute has created a group on the popular LinkedIn network, we invite all professionals practising Business Continuity to join us. To join, simple click on the following link - Click Here.

[Dubai, 26 January 2009] BCM-350: Implementing BCM class was held in Dubai. Attended by 13 BC professionals from the Gulf countries. the course enables participants to understand BCM best practices through experience sharing among each other. Sandeep Shenoy from Axis Solutions claimed that the course help him by providing an insight to look at BCM & DR from a customer's business point of view. Upcoming courses in Dubai, click here.

 

 

[SINGAPORE, 16 April 2009] Good news for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery partners in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, BCMpedia glossaries is now searchable in Chinese (Traditional). BCMpedia, a Wikipedia-inspired information portal for Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) Learning, is reaching out the world of BC and DR community with more than 110,00 hits since its inital launch on 1st September 2008. Log in to contribute and update the content of glossaries and definitions in Chinese (Traditional), please join Chinese BCMpedia.