Disaster Resource Guide Interview – Benchmarking Data – Why is it important?
Interview with Cheyene Haase, President of BC Management, Inc.

Tell me more about yourself and BC Management.
BC Management was founded in March, 2000.  (Our 10 year anniversary is right around the corner.)  The firm is solely focused on staffing and benchmarking research within the business continuity, disaster recovery, risk management, emergency management, crisis management and information security professions.  With decades of industry expertise, our staff has a unique understanding of the challenges professionals face with hiring, benchmarking and analyzing best practices within these niche fields.

I have been recruiting in business continuity since 1998.  My involvement in the profession started when I joined a large staffing firm that at the time had just signed an agreement with Comdisco.  Before I knew it, I was actively recruiting and placing business continuity professionals across the USA.  In 2000 I founded BC Management with the purpose of dedicating the firm’s services on BCM and related professions

BC Management is better known for the BCM compensation reports.  How did your firm get involved in researching business continuity programs?
Yes, BC Management has been collecting data on compensations in the business continuity profession since 2001.  In 2005 we added the BCM program management section to our annual study.  At the time our clients were asking for additional data on dedicated personnel, budgeting and positioning of the program.  It just made sense to expand our current survey to meet the needs of our clients and the industry, and it has been evolving and expanding since then.

I understand that several changes were made this year, can you explain these briefly?
First we formed the International Benchmarking Advisory Board, which is composed of about 20 international BCM thought leaders.  The board was instrumental in reviewing the study to ensure the questions focused on the most relevant information.  They also improved the study substantially by removing common, but incorrect assumptions.  Second, BC Management also selected a leading survey vendor (WorldAPP KeySurvey) that was able to meet our data collection needs, as well as develop from the ground up a business intelligence dashboard assessment tool customized for the business continuity profession.  The reporting technology has been significantly enhanced, which gives BC Management the ability to quickly create customized reports based on a client’s specifications.  Lastly, we focused on the international front.  For the first time ever the study was made available in five languages (English, Spanish, French, Chinese and Japanese).

BC Management has traditionally given away a lot of fantastic data to the BCM profession.  Will this continue to be the case with both the compensation and program management research data?
Yes, I’m a big believer that if you contribute to the data you should also benefit directly from the data.  BC Management’s model has always been to embrace, educate and elevate the BCM profession.  Our complimentary compensation and program management benchmarking reports are just one example of our involvement and contribution.  Providing these reports highlights our knowledge and unique focus to the profession.

What were some of the most interesting/compelling BCM program management trends from this year’s study assessment?
There were several interesting trends.  This was the first year we had a board of industry leaders assist with reviewing the data.  They were immediately intrigued with the data that correlated to the maturity levels of the program.  One interesting finding is in the organizational alignment/positioning of the program.  The study revealed that although IT tends to be a popular placement of the BCM program, the percentage of respondents who place BCM under IT dips significantly based on the self rating of the maturity of the program.  Interestingly enough, 42% of the respondents who rated their program as “very immature” indicated that BCM reported to IT while only 20% of those respondents who indicated a “very mature” program noted IT as the designated home for their BCM program. 

There was some interesting data around the program sponsor too.  In the study the program sponsor was the individual who is totally engaged and sponsoring the activities of the BCM program.  The study revealed that 7% of the respondents with a “very immature” program noted the Board/ Executive Committee as the program sponsor while 22% of those respondents with a “very mature” program answered the same.  Furthermore, 26% of the “very immature” program respondents noted the CIO/CTO as the program sponsor while only 12% of the “very mature” program respondents noted the same. 

The data also revealed that those respondents with “very mature” programs substantiated this rating with more thoroughly integrated programs throughout the entire organization and continual assessment, audit and testing.  The data pointed to 82% of mature programs conducting a Business Impact Assessment (BIA) at least annually while at the same time leveraging the outcome of the BIA to elevate the program.  In contrast, “very immature” programs either do not conduct BIA’s at all (34%) and those that do not leverage the outcome of the BIA results.

Tell me about the complimentary data that’s available from the program management section of the study.
We have two complimentary reports detailing data gathered from the program management section of the study.  The first report, Executive Summary Report, is free to all professionals, regardless is they participated in our study or not.  This report is 10 pages in length and it gives just an overview of the data we have gathered this year.  View Executive Summary Report

The second complimentary report, Exclusive Board Review, is exclusive to those professionals who contributed to the study.  We recognize that the study took some time to complete; therefore, this report serves as a thank you to those professionals who took the time to contribute to the program management section of the study.  This complimentary report is unique as our International Benchmarking Advisory Board assessed the data and wrote the Board Summary to this report.  So in essence, this report is truly a collaborative effort between BC Management and our board.  This report is not being distributed or sold to the general public, though.  Only those professionals who contributed to the study are able to review this exclusive report.  Fortunately the study remains open until the end of October 2009.  The Exclusive Board Review - Excerpt highlights the data available within this report.  Those who participate in the study will receive a complimentary copy of this exclusive report.

How should professionals use this research data?
Our research data should be viewed as a snapshot of the current state of the industry.  We received responses from companies of all sizes and industries.  Interestingly enough, some respondents admitted to very little dedication/planning in business continuity, while others indicated leading global programs.  Individuals are always seeking data to compare themselves and their program to their peers.  Our research data provides this unbiased information.

BC Management has been providing customized program management benchmarking reports since 2006.  Historically speaking, our clients have utilized our data to present to their executives.  The topics of focus have been the following:

• Where within the organization do other companies position business continuity for maximum visibility?
• How much do other similar organizations (same industry and size) spend on their business continuity planning initiatives?
• What is the right number of personnel based on revenues or size of the organization?
• How often do other companies assess, test or audit their program?
• Is our program really mature?
• What is really activated in times of a disaster?
• What do other similar organizations (same industry and size) spend on service providers?
• What should we be doing to better protect our people, customers and assets?

What do you mean by “customized program management benchmarking reports”?
In addition to our complimentary reports mentioned above, the Executive Summary Report and Exclusive Board Review - Excerpt, BC Management offers a variety of benchmarking options to choose from to accommodate not only the needs of our clients, but also their budget.

Full Data Report – 80 pages:
BC Management offers a full data report which highlights all the data collected from our annual study without any customization to your organization.  Please note that this 80-page PDF document is an average of all study respondents with no customization by industry, revenues, size of the organization, country etc; therefore, this report will provide only a skyline view of the business continuity profession. 

Customized Program Benchmarking Report – 50 pages:
An in-depth, customized report that focuses on the programs of similar organizations (based on the client’s filter specifications) as it pertains to program maturity, budgeting, personnel, program sponsorship and program activation. Clients will receive a PDF document which will mirror the sample customized report.

Package Customized Program Benchmarking Reporting and Data:
BC Management’s package customized benchmarking includes both the PDF document and access to the data points.  Clients will receive the data points (based on their filter specifications) within a business intelligence dashboard customized for business continuity.  The dashboard will allow organizations to further assess the data at their convenience within a dynamic, user friendly interface.  Please note that BC Management never reveals study respondent contact information (personal and/ or company) within the reporting or dashboard user interface. 

About the Author:

Cheyene Haase has been an executive recruiter for thirteen years with eleven of those years specializing in the business continuity field. Her career as an executive recruiter began in Madison, Wisconsin shortly after graduating from UW- Madison with a bachelor’s degree. In Madison she placed professionals at all levels from programmers, accountants to professors. Shortly after moving to southern California in 1998; she joined Management Recruiters International where she immediately began recruiting in the business continuity field. Cheyene quickly recognized that the business continuity field was getting lost within the large umbrella of Management Recruiters International. She decided to forge a new company solely dedicated to the business continuity field; thus she founded BC Management, Inc. in 2000. Cheyene has become an integral part of the business continuity community previously serving on the board for the Association of Contingency Planners of Los Angeles and Orange County and currently an active professional on the Editorial Advisory Board for Continuity Insights. She was also the recipient of the inaugural ACP Hall of Fame award in 2006. She can be reached at (714) 843-5470, or via e-mail: chaase@bcmanagement.com