<img src="https://ws.zoominfo.com/pixel/pIUYSip8PKsGpxhxzC1V" width="1" height="1" style="display: none;">

What’s The Difference Between Business Continuity Management (BCM) And Pandemic Planning?

author Michael Berman
1 min read
May 14, 2020

It’s a safe bet that your financial institution had a business continuity and disaster recovery plan in place before COVID-19—one that you put into effect as sheltering in place and work from home became the new normal.

But did you have a pandemic plan? Do you know the difference?

BCM vs. Pandemic Planning

Business continuity management (BCM) and pandemic planning are both important elements of business resiliency. They are outlined in guidance:

Related: Business Continuity Planning Checklist

In short, BCM is the process of ensuring that a FI is prepared for potential business disruptions. It includes resiliency, continuity, and response capabilities for critical functions and activities. The BCM plan can be triggered by any type of event from a cyberattack to a tornado.

Pandemic planning is a type of BCM that focuses on a specific type of event: a pandemic. Unlike traditional BCM, which typically covers short-term events contained to a specific geographic area, pandemics are typically long-lasting events characterized by staffing shortages and a widespread, international impact.

Because the impact of a pandemic is so far-reaching, regulators have provided specific pandemic planning guidance separate from BCM. The good news is that much of the work done for BCM can be applied to pandemic planning.

Related: What is Business Continuity Management?

There is a huge amount of overlap between BCM and pandemic planning guidance. Both borrow heavily from risk management best practices and the risk management lifecycle. It’s about finding ways to improve resilience rather than simply responding to problems as they emerge.

We’ll breakdown both guidance to show you 10 key areas of overlap so you can find the most efficient way to develop and test your pandemic plan.

Learn more about

Business Continuity Resources

Subscribe to the Nsight Blog

All Topics Risk & Compliance Product Insight Banks Lending Compliance Credit Unions Risk Management Fair Lending Nfairlending Cluster: Risk Management Compliance Lending Compliance Management Integrated Risk Blog Regulatory Compliance Management Nrisk News & Updates HMDA Risk Mortgage Lenders Vendor Management Ncomply Business Resiliency CRA Lending Compliance Blog Vendor CFPB Ncontinuity Business Continuity Third-Party Vendor Management Cybersecurity Fintech NVendor Strategic Planning Ncyber Regulatory Updates Ntransmittal Audits & Findings OCC Regulatory Compliance Company Culture Audit Nverify Compliance Management Exams FDIC Nfindings Findings NCUA Contract Management Employee Intranet Business Continuity Management Contract FRB Findings Management Enterprise Risk Management FFIEC Ncontracts manager Third-Party Vendors Vendor Risk Vendor Risk Management Wealth Management 1071 ABA Bank Access Control Artificial Intelligence Audit Findings Board Portal Call Report Compliance Risk Cybersecurity Assessment Digital Tansformation Due Diligence Efficiency Employee Engagement Exam findings FIEC Governance and Risk Management Inc. 5000 Internal Audit Management Mortgage Lending Nboardportal Verify integrated risk management
RPO - Recovery Point Objective
Banks

RPO - Recovery Point Objective

Dec 13, 2018 1 min read
Contingency Plan Template
Banks

Contingency Plan Template

Nov 13, 2018 1 min read
5 Tips For Assessing Your Financial Institution’s Pandemic Performance
Banks

5 Tips For Assessing Your Financial Institution’s Pandemic Performance

May 21, 2020 2 min read