Jay Townsend, Principal at Booz Allen Hamilton Mena and Rosa Donno (R), Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton Mena.
Organisations in the GCC must make resilience an integral part of their threat mitigation strategy across the private sector and government services, to ensure that essential functions are restored after disruptive events, a report by Booz Allen Hamilton, has revealed.
GCC organisations are already spending approximately $3.5m per year on identifying and restraining data security breaches, far ahead of the global average of $2.1m. Despite such enormous spends, GCC organisations take longer than their European counterparts to contain a breach, with the average reported time in the GCC standing at 260 days, compared to just 138 days in Europe.
To reduce this gap, GCC governments are equipping organisations in the region with the necessary tools to build resilience across industries. Jay Townsend, Principal at Booz Allen Hamilton Mena, said: “Investing in robust threat mitigation strategies and resilience response could reduce organisations’ exposure to threats that result in untoward incidents.
GCC governments have recognised this and, over the past decade, have begun to implement systems and programs to help navigate uncertainty and enhance preparedness and response capabilities. But, they need to take this a step further and make it part of the strategic corporate and national agenda.”
The report outlines a “resilience equation” that protects organisations against potential shocks, focuses on being proactive, helps to explore options for dealing with surprises and changes, and defines resilience objectives and guiding principles.
The “resilience equation” comprises Risk Management (RM), Continuity Management (CM) and Testing & Exercises (T&E). Together they provide a holistic view for organisations to thrive and grow through changes, disruptions, and unknown events.
According to the report, organisations must consider an RM program to identify and assess risks across the entire organisation and to help with the implementation of risk management strategies. A sustainable risk management program covers eight focus areas, including Governance, Organisation and Decision Process, Strategy and Policy, Risk Appetite & Tolerance, Processes & Tools, Culture and Communication, Performance Monitoring, and Business Intelligence.
Meanwhile, a CM system is capable of absorbing disruption and provides backups and fail-safes, including mechanisms for rapid response designed to restore operating capacity. It covers key areas such as Emergency Management Plan, Crisis Management Plan, Continuity of Operations Plan, and IT Disaster Recovery Plan.
The report also said that T&E plans and procedures are capable of revealing weaknesses and gaps as well as improve organisational coordination, clarify roles and responsibilities, and create a unique learning environment.
The best way to prepare for the unforeseen is by assessing strategic options and tactical plans through testing and exercises, Booz Allen Hamilton added. It also said that T&E unlock benefits associated with building preparedness, increasing resilience and sustaining performance.
Rosa Donno, Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton Mena, said: “GCC organisations are already on the right track to building resilience, but they need to be more aware of their future threats and current weaknesses, so that they can take informed strategic and tactical decisions that can be applied across the full spectrum of sectors and industries region-wide, in order to prepare for risks and respond effectively to internal and external events.”
