This article provides an overview of the ITIL process Service Continuity Management.

IT Service Continuity Management focuses on ensuring that an organisation’s IT activities can continue through risk reduction and rapid recovery. It links with the over-arching organisation continuity management process to ensure that risks to the IT services’ stability are managed and reduced. There must also be preparation and plans in place to ensure that the IT service can be recovered.

The objectives are to ensure that plans are in place and that they are in line with the organisation’s needs. They must also be reviewed to ensure that they are still appropriate.

IT service continuity management must also link in with other processes – interacting with change management for example, to ensure that new services have continuity in place or that they do not impact existing plans. There are also clear links with incident and availability management. This process also links with supplier management, ensuring that the contracts in place make the recovery achievable.

Further advice and information is available, including:

  1. Policies.
  2. Considering IT service continuity management throughout the lifecycle.
  3. Example risks and how to reduce them.
  4. Backup and disaster recovery strategies.

For more information please contact Morland-Austin at info@morland-austin.com.