The latest~BCI annual Horizon Scan survey reveals the concerns most likely to keep Business Continuity Managers’ awake at night. Undertaken in association with BSI, the report suggests that unplanned IT and telecom outages, cyber attacks and data breaches remain the biggest threats to business continuity worldwide.

Towering above risks such as natural disasters, utility glitches or fire, the data shows the potential impact of current and emerging technologies on business health and wealth. It also highlights the importance of effective business continuity planning in order to anticipate risk and successfully respond to IT threats.

Top business continuity concerns

690 people responded to the survey from 82 countries.

1. Unplanned IT and telecom outages

Outages and system failures are productivity killers~that can often be avoided with website monitoring4. The BCI report revealed that 77% of Business Continuity Managers felt concern or extreme concern about the possibility of an unplanned IT or telecoms outage.

2. Cyber attack

The report~suggests~concerns have increased in the last year, with 73% of respondents worried about the possibility of a cyber attack. The may be due to the increasing use of mobile phones and tablets at work. A recent report by security firm Symantec revealed that only 17 per~cent of smartphone users had security software on their phones. 54 per cent weren’t aware security solutions for mobiles even exist.

3. Data breach

There have been a number of high profile cases involving businesses that have failed to protect sensitive or confidential data in recent years. The BCI report revealed that 73% of Business Continuity Managers worry about the possibility of a data breach. The same number as~cyber attacks.

These top three threats may be the same as last year’s BCI report, but the percentage of people showing concern has grown. Other threats made it to the BCI top ten list, including:

4. Adverse weather

5. Interruption to utility supply

6. Fire

7. Security incident

8. Health and safety incident

9. Act of terrorism

10. New laws or regulations

Despite the threats and increasing concern amongst Business Continuity Managers, the report revealed only 18% of organizations were increasing their investment in business continuity programmes. 11% were actively reducing theirs. However, the report clearly indicates that every organization should invest wisely in~technologies such as website and cloud infrastructure monitoring to help counter the threats relevant to them.