Agile Business Continuity

I’ve noticed an increase in the use of terms such as agile and adaptability in the mainstream marketing materials of the usual suspects. I don’t doubt their sincerity but I suspect they are using the wrong shorthand. If you are an executive then the very last thing you want is an agile business. A business is the way in which we realise a business model and for senior management who are tasked with delivering this, change is a diversion from the task at hand. What the executive desire is a predictable world and a predictable business where resources are consumed, you crank the handle and value comes out.

Agile when used in conjuction with the term organisation brings to mind change and I would argue that this is not quite the right picture. Agile is a positive behaviour of the organisation (or at least parts of the organisation) that allow it to flex and adapt to changing conditions. However, this flexing exists in order to maintain a predictable and hopefully planned path.

I may be overstating the case a little here, but it comes back to identifying the real goal. Business Continuity is simply way of flattening the bumps in the road so that an organisation can get to where its Chief Executive is driving it. What every Executive really wants for Christmas, is predictability.

Related posts:

1. Predictability – Measuring Resilience Part 3
2. Continuity Dashboard – Measuring Resilience Part 2
3. Breaking Point – Measuring Resilience Part 1
4. What is Resilience?
5. Risk Assessment – Measuring Resilience Part 4