ABSTRACT
In Chapter 1 we introduced the term “digital resilience” to indicate the capability that arises from the conflation of an organisation’s risk posture, its defensive resources, behavioural and cultural dimensions, and the strategic development of its information and communications technologies (ICT). In Chapter 2, we considered how an increasing umbrella of regulation and legislation alongside the legacy of disaster recovery planning reflects the broader use of, and threat towards, ICT. In this chapter, we introduce a discussion of digital resilience – its importance, form and diagnosis. Central to this consideration is the distinction between electronic security and digital resilience. The latter echoes, corresponds and aligns with the prevention and recovery management precepts of BCM that we set out in Chapter 1 and developed in the following chapter. As will be argued here, the concept of “digital” has many consequences, including an interrelationship with factors such as commercial, technological, behavioural and cultural ones. From a BCM manager’s perspective, not least of these is the how, where, when and why things are done in an organisation. Since, in the simplest sense, BCM is about restoring the way things are completed in an organisation, an understanding of these wide consequences is required. This chapter deconstructs and reconstructs the concept of “digital”. In doing so, we reveal and develop the importance of coupling human, group and organisational behaviour (the “do-ware”) with hardware and software in the context of a changing environment.
