Synergy potential between business continuity management and incident response management and the resulting added value to strengthen the competitiveness of companies in the market.

To identify the synergy potential between business continuity management (BCM) and incident response management (IRM), the two concepts must be considered in the business context of cyber resilience management. A professional information security management focuses on protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data and information during normal operations. Its main process is through proactive risk management to minimise possible failures and threats. BCM unfolds its protection of core business processes in the event of a cyber incident by swift detection, response and recovery. IRM is the technical process of cyber crisis management, whereby existing IRM processes are activated in the event of a cyber incident. Besides the key differences in terms of the protection goals or type of measures, several synergy potentials can be identified between BCM and IRM. Furthermore, both BCM and IRM place great importance on employee awareness in cyber risk and continuous improvement. These are key elements to sustainably strengthen cyber resilience in the continuity and stabilisation phase. Both a business-orientated BCM and an IT-focused IRM mitigate the consequences of a cyberattack. Utilising the synergies of BCM and IRM ensures optimum business continuity, minimal loss impact and rapid restoration of normal operations. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.