We want resilient SMEs! CASSANDRA (Continuity And Security for SMEs Active in Neutralizing Dangers and Risks affecting their Activities) is a Strategic Partnership addressing the problems of poor awareness of the risks and threats to which the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are exposed, and of poor operational resilience and business continuity. The project partners emcra GmbH (Germany), Tournis Consulting (Greece), the Cyprus Project Management Society, T-SOFT (Czech Republic), the Regional Association of Craftmanship of the Italian region of South Tyrol (Landesverbands der Handwerker Bozen) and the German Institute of Business Consulting, Business Development and Business Research (IBWF) share the common vision of making Business Resilience disciplines known, accessible and affordable for virtually all small and micro-sized companies of the European Business Services sector. Therefore CASSANDRA will deliver three SME-friendly outputs: an Awareness-Raising Tool, an Elementary Guide and an ICT-based on-the-job Training on Business Resilience. The ouputs will be compliant with the international standards ISO31000 (Risk Management), ISO22301 (Business Continuity) and ISO27001 (Information Security). The methodology elaborated to achieve these objectives follows a classical path: (1) Pooling of Knowledge, (2) Conception of the Outputs, (3) Programming, (4) Testing, (5) Delivery and (6) Dissemination. In parallel, the project partners will also seek to ensure the Exploitation of the results through their certification or transfer into other economic contexts. Why SMEs of the Business Services sector? They are amongst the most concerned since 94% of the companies of this sector are micro-sized companies (less than 10 employees), and since 47% of the European micro-businesses have no form of business continuity plans in place. Yet, the Business Services sector is of strategical importance for the EU: it accounts for 11.7% of the EU economy, more than 20 million jobs, across 4 million enterprises. Above all, it is expected that this sector will create about one third of the total job opportunities to be created between 2013 and 2025. "Business Services" is a sector driven and defined by outsourcing: the sector ranges from professional services (such as management consultancy, accountancy and legal services) through technical services (such as design, engineering and architectural services) to operational support services (such as office leasing, labour recruitment and employment, security and industrial cleaning activities). What is the background of the project? "Risks" are probabilities of events that may have specific impacts which, if realized, could severely or lethally damage the capability of these SMEs to operate, provide their services and products to their customers and protect the interests of their stakeholders. Identifying, understanding and dealing with these risks by deploying appropriate measures, therefore minimizing their probabilities or the extent of their impact is called "Risk Management". Yet, deploying specific measures to mitigate risks may not always prevent negative incidents. In this case, SMEs need a strong "Operational Resilience" defined as the ability to absorb the impact of a business interruption, disruption or loss and continue to provide an acceptable level of service. This ability is not obtained by chance but is the observable result of "Business Continuity" strategies that are put in place by firms that proactively plan effective responses to negative incidents and business disruptions in order to continue their business operations at an acceptable predefined level. Unfortunately, the Business Services SMEs suffer from a lack of awareness, skills and knowledge on Risk Management, Business Continuity and Information Security and their staff can invest very little time in reading complex guidelines and doing long training! The project results will be disseminated to about 50,000 managers, executives or other employees with responsibility of SMEs from the Business Services sector in Europe, of which about 3,500 will make effective use of the three outputs. About 100 of them will have the opportunity to test them online (and 10 in face-to-face situation) and suggest modifications ahead of their dissemination. The expected impact for the target groups is that SMEs of the Business Services sector better "neutralize dangers and risks affecting their activities" and become better prepared to face crisis and disruptions. In a word, that SMEs become more "resilient". If they do so, they will be then more sustainable, more competitive and will create more jobs.
Keep Your Business Going! Everything we do involves risk. Being able to manage risks is a life or death criterion for every enterprise. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) require a practical approach for acquiring necessary knowledge in the area of risk management and for applying this knowledge in a cost-effective way as directly and quickly as possible. It is to this end that the CASSANDR approach has been developed. It offers professional support to fundamentally improve the resilience of SMEs against risks and threats. The CASSANDRA approach includes a ‘Quick Check Tool’, a ‘Guide’ and an ‘Online Course’ on business resilience. These 3 products are available free online and are simply structured, practical, intelligibly written and tailored to the specific needs of SMEs. All the CASSANDRA products are available here in English, German, Italian, Greek and Czech: www.cassandra-resilience.eu. The CASSANDRA approach was created by the CASSANDRA strategic partnership comprised of 6 project partners: emcra GmbH (Germany, lead partner), Tournis Consulting (Greece), the Cyprus Project Management Society, T-SOFT (Czech Republic), the Regional Association of Craftmanship of the Italian region of South Tyrol (Landesverbands der Handwerker Bozen) and the German Institute of Business Consulting, Business Development and Business Research (IBWF). The partnership has a balanced mix of partners who are competent in business resilience and/or who represent the users (SMEs) and/or who are experienced in education and IT products. Without considering their roles in the project, they all share the common vision of making business resilience disciplines known, accessible and affordable for virtually all SMEs in the business services sector across Europe. What is business resilience and why is it necessary? Business resilience is an overarching term for 3 disciplines formalised by international standards: risk management (ISO 31000), business continuity (ISO 22301) and information security (ISO/IEC 27001). Business Resilience can be defined as the ability to absorb the impact of an interruption, disruption or loss to business and continue to provide an acceptable level of service. This ability is not obtained by chance, rather it is the observable result of proactive planning. Unfortunately, SMEs - and especially micro-sized enterprises - suffer from a lack of awareness, skills and knowledge about these disciplines and their staff have very little time to invest in reading complex guidelines or completing long training courses! Despite this, business resilience is fundamental to the survival of any enterprise. In Europe, only 44% of all enterprises survive more than five years according to Eurostat business demographic statistics. A "lack of planning" has been identified as one of the top reasons for business failure. How are risk management and business continuity related? ‘Risks' are probabilities of events that may have specific impacts which, if realised, could severely or lethally damage the capability of SMEs to operate, provide their services and products to their clients or protect the interests of their stakeholders. Identifying, understanding and dealing with these risks by deploying appropriate measures and thereby minimising the probability or impact of them occurring is called ‘risk management’. However, deploying specific measures to mitigate risks may not always prevent negative incidents. In such a case, SMEs need a strong ‘Business Continuity Plan’; a plan which details how they would respond to and manage a risk or threat if it were to become a reality. Only 30% of small and medium-sized enterprises have such plan in place. Through its ‘Quick Check Tool’, ‘Guide’ and ‘Online Course’, the CASSANDRA approach has helped SME managers, executives and other employees to raise the business resilience of their companies during this project's implementation. More than 100 people have already tested the beta versions of the 3 CASSANDRA outputs. The ‘Guide’ and ‘Online Course’ have been praised for their clarity, thoroughness, practicality and usefulness; the ‘Quick Check Tool’ for its user-friendliness. Following the project's completion, the CASSANDRA approach will be promoted and disseminated to about 50,000 SME managers, executives and other employees from the business services sector in Europe. Once these individuals have become knowledgeable, skilled and competent with regards to business resilience, they will be able to develop and deploy new or improved risk management strategies and continuity plans for their enterprises. The long-term benefits for these enterprises include the avoidance of identified risks, or if this is not the case, a reduction in their probability and/or impact, meaning that SMEs will be better prepared to face crises and disruptions. Once these SMEs have become more resilient to incidents and disruptions, they will be more sustainable and competitive.