ABSTRACT
The objective of this chapter is to review the development of business continuity management (BCM) into its current form from its origins in disaster recovery planning. The focus is on the evolution of the practice, from its origins in disaster recovery to contingency planning and finally to a more strategically focused management concern. The roots of BCM lie in information systems but then extended beyond this as organisations became more dependent upon technologies that drove core business processes. Hence, pushed by changing stakeholder and organisational needs, BCM has, over the last twenty years, moved from a technical focus to a compliance focus and has now moved towards a strategic focus, within some businesses. The chapter concludes by envisioning how BCM might move into the future through the development in some organisations of a business continuity (BC) capability.
