Continuity2

Business Continuity

Comments: The c2 tool we have been using at IATA has been great so far. More updates and time needs to be spent on updating it but overall we are very satisfied. The customer support is amazing.

Pros:

There are many pros to the use of C2 for IATA for our business continuity. The layout is quite good, and one is able to understand the various logo once using it. The actual functionalities are amazing, the ability to call the customers and clients and team members. And the ability to have users involved that are not part of the system. What is also amazing is the support team and the quick response times.

Cons:

Some fields are editable by many parties, hence data duplication or mistakes can occur easily. This is caused by open text fields. Some icons are confusing in understanding and some fields require some asterisks or 'i' for further information (explanations of why or what the field means).

C2 implementation and use

Comments: In my view there are two typical approaches to Business Continuity Management and planning: • Document incident-response resources and the procedures that explain what to do, how to do it and whom to notify. • Implement BCMS software to assist in the design, implementation and enduring control of the BCMS. Within a typical BCMS, the documentation approach has been the traditional plan-building method. This method involves significant resource gathering input from the business units on which systems and operations are critical, compiling a business impact analysis, an incident response plan, call lists, and recovery solutions and procedures. This normally resides on the shared drive ready for stakeholder use. Continity2 controls the analysis and planning process. When fully implemented, all of Business Continuity and Incident Management people, resources and business needs will be represented as data elements and stored within software’s database. The creation of Plan templates, management of contacts and BCMS governance has been a real benefit. For a global organisation, delivering a consistent methodology and approach with uniformed Plan delivery demonstrates to our external interested parties that we have a Global BCMS, not a desperate system based on out of date analysis and documentation.

Pros:

It is important to start with, ‘what you put in is what you will get out’. C2 is a structured approach to BIA formulation to Plan completion, the more detail, time and effort you apply, the better the resulting Plan output. Work at the outset is required to ensure that you recognise how C2 functions as this will help you formulate the organisational structure. Once you have completed the initial ground work, C2 is very easy to add, remove and modify the structure to meet the requirements of the Plan you intend to use within your organisation. One of the things I like about this application is the simplistic dashboard. The front end appears from sign-on and this can be tailored to suit user needs, so they only see what they need to see. Another key benefit is the provision of additional functionality that supports the Plans during validation and invocation. The benefit of having one system that can be configured to suit organisational complexity, provide Plan governance, has the ability to communicate to all Plan members, additional internal and external stakeholders using SMS, e-mail and forced voice call is a real plus.

Cons:

There are not many downsides to the C2 software, but one area that does cause functionality frustration, is organisational BIA. This function is great if you have an organisation that does the same activity multiple times over multiple locations. However, if this is not the case, the organisational BIA will apply constraints when trying to make organisation structure changes, removing departments, activities etc. requiring the user to modify the organisational BIA structure in order to complete a front end structure change. The ability to interface with other business systems, such as Active Directory would also benefit the application so that users do not have to remember multiple login details. However, password security can be configured to meet the needs of the business, but this would act as a separate instance.

Your typical user

Comments: The build of the system was more difficult than initially anticipated. With the changes happening within the software, this has caused confusion and a cause of user confidence lacking. C2 as a company is very supportive and will do everything they can to ensure their customers have what they need to use the software and without this, I would have struggled, more than I did.

Pros:

It is compliant to ISO22301 and the customer care is exceptional. it is everything you need in "one box".

Cons:

Complicated initially to set up and there have been regular changes within the software, that has caused confusion. I now understand that this is because request from other user have been implemented but no new release notes have been issued.

C2 BCMS Review

Comments: The benefits being realised are mass cascade very quickly, automated reporting through upfront testing criteria and the ability to auto send plan review/signoff emails.

Pros:

The software is easy to use and has built in help if you are not clear on what is required in any particular field It provides many different layers of reporting should you require in depth reporting and governance capability People signing off the plans do not need to have direct system access, cutting down the number of potential user accounts you need to create and administer

Cons:

Sometimes you have to do a manual push to update the plan when making amendments for the amendments to be transferred to the plan (this being reviewed though and believe it to be resolved during next software release). Current limited capability on the 'Invoke' button of the BCP The call tree cascades show the message coming from a UK mobile when sending outside of the UK, this means there is a potential for people to see it as 'spam' and not read the message (this is being extremely picky) None of the above are major issues and would not stop me from recommending the software

Benefits of a C2 BCMS

Comments: With multiple (50+) plans across the business, the management, review and updates have always been problematic with business areas wanting to put there own emphasis on specific elements. Having a fixed format recording method across the organisation has forced the standardisation and enabled the assessment of criticality of functions.

Pros:

Solution is very good at capturing all the business requirements and impacts then pulling them through to both the individual business area and location BCP's. Ability to tailor the BIA/BCP template requirements to meet the business needs. Having introduced the BCMS to the business functions, they embraced the solution after the initial concerns around navigation.

Cons:

The annual reviews whilst automatically generated to the plan authors/owners need to be independently tracked and managed by the System Admin from an overview standpoint. The email review notifications are pretty simple and we have struggled to get company branding added, this has resulted in mails being deleted as the plain text looks like spam.

C2 Application for Business Continuity Management

Comments: C2 is an application designed to manage a business continuity management system from a to z.
We have been using C2 since November 2017, using it to implement an ISO 22301 compliant BCMS within 12 months.
Customer and technical support are excellent, reacting very fast and effectively.

Pros:

Plan management is greatly simplified, with data entry only necessary at BIA level. Accessibility via internet and mobile app. Dash board showing status of BCMS at a glance.

Cons:

Report module could be improved, especially the filters. Process or activity (inter-)dependencies are not linked (no process/activity landscape).

Business Continuity Management software

Comments: The software has proved invaluable in supporting the rollout of our business continuity management programme. The structured way in which the BIA is presented to the end user from understanding the business activity to identifying its resource requirements and then to considering the recovery strategy makes it easy for non-BC personnel to understand. Being able to take that data and present it back in the BCP through the dynamic template is most cost and time efficient.

Pros:

The structured way in which BCP's are created; taking the data captured through the BIA's and presenting it into the BC plans via the dynamic template eliminating the need for copy and paste. Once you get your dynamic template formatted as you like it can be used for the basis of all your plans giving a common look and feel.

Cons:

The organisational structure offers some challenges to a large scale implementation and causes some difficulties in representing changes to the organisational structure of the company itself. The dynamic templates can take some getting right with the formatting, but once in place they do the job.

C2 BCM Software

Pros:

Great technical support

Cons:

-User friendliness could be improved -Text formatting could be made easier, currently consumes more time than it should

Does what it says on the tin !

Comments: Challenging due to the continuous development of the tool

Pros:

Covers everything required to have a BCMS that is compliant to ISO22301.

Cons:

The amount of time it takes to configure to be in a ready for use state

A great BCMS tool!!

Pros:

The tool is simple enough to start with and can develop to complex analysis, incident management along with BC risks monitoring to drive the overall BC approach of the organisation to the next level.

Cons:

Threat analysis is missing but the tool is capable of keep a track of BC risks, monitoring them and further doument mitigation actions. C2 is working on this enhancement in the near future, as we were informed.

An impressive BCMS application

Comments: Very positive and I would not hesitate to recommend it to other businesses.

Pros:

The design fully supports us in the delivery and maintenance of our BCMS and in the ongoing achievement of ISO22301 certification. When demonstrated during client audits, it is often commented on as an impressive system and as an area of best practice.

Cons:

Reporting and extraction of data, particularly for incident management and bulletin boards. Technical support often struggle to replicate the issues we experience in our own environment so having a better understanding of the client's own software and infrastructure quirks may benefit with trouble-shooting - or at least knowing which questions to ask to tease out root cause.

Excellent BC management system.

Pros:

The aftersales service is outstanding and a vast improvement on other IT software companies I have worked with. Issues can be resolved quickly by friendly staff who appear truly interested and concerned with any challenge.

Cons:

It has a large variety of tools that take a while to fully understand. Tis situation would be resolved if I had additional staff to concentrate fully on BC but working in the public sector this is just not going to happen anytime soon.

Review of BCMS

Pros:

As a large organisation we have staff with varied levels of IT skills and the Continuity2 software is beneficial for its ease of use and applicability of functionality across the various business/departmental areas.

Cons:

The range of functions although really helpful can be perceived as daunting for staff with limited use/access however owing to support provided through training and awareness by the provider this particular issue has on the whole been resolved

Great platform both from a gouvernance and operational perspective

Comments: Provides me with an enterprise wide solution that is adaptable and repeatable.
Provides me with enterprise wide view and areas that need attention.
Enabled me to align easily to ISO standard.

Pros:

Easy to use platform, scalable, adaptable, comprehensive and enables alignment and compliance to ISO standard. Deployment as an overarching BCMS is fantastic from a governance perspective, however, this is a small part of its capabilities. Operational implementation is really effective and ability to use in real time scenarios is a big game changer. I have implemented this tool in two companies from differing sectors and have realised key benefits in both.

Cons:

Only just managed to get it as an IoS App.

Overall a great tool to use for Business Continuity and the support from C2 has been amazing.

Comments: The team have been amazing! I have contacted them a lot (mostly with 'user error' type questions) and they have always responded almost immediately and helped with any questions or issues. They always provide the best advice and have made my work a lot smoother and more enjoyable.

Pros:

It allows a business to do more than what is required for Business Continuity. It allows for communication directly from the tool which others don't provide.

Cons:

It has taken some time to be confident when using the tool and training others. It's not obvious how someone would access their Work Instruction.

Great Business Continuity Management System

Pros:

User-friendly, reporting functionalities, BIA module

Cons:

Dashboard functionalities shall be enhanced

C2 for Business Continuity

Comments: The C2 platform ensures that organizations can develop plans to respond to disasters and interruptions. It allows our organization to increase resilience and respond more promptly and robustly.

Pros:

The C2 platform is completely user friendly and has a variety of features. It is also written to be compliant with the ISO standards for Business Continuity.

Cons:

I cannot think of any CONS for this software

Review C2 Software

Pros:

All of the different functions from the help to set up training to the Call Lists and the ability to use.

Cons:

Getting to know it initially and the BIA and Critical Analysis process but the team were always there to help.