Business Continuity Management | BCM

[MINDEF] [CTG] [C1] Organisation’s Expertise in BCM, Crisis Management & Operational Resilience

Written by Moh Heng Goh | Feb 25, 2026 2:41:53 AM

Chapter 1

Organisation’s Expertise in BCM, Crisis Management & Operational Resilience

Introduction


Operations leaders transitioning from the military or uniformed services into the civilian sector possess strong capabilities in leadership, discipline, command structures, contingency planning, and execution under pressure.

However, to translate these strengths into sustainable civilian careers, they require alignment with globally recognised management disciplines, governance structures, regulatory expectations, and industry best practices.

This organisation’s expertise in Business Continuity Management (BCM), Crisis Management, and Operational Resilience provides that bridge.

This chapter provides structured methodologies, certification pathways, and advisory frameworks designed to transform operational experience into professional, standards-aligned competencies recognised across the financial services, critical infrastructure, healthcare, technology, manufacturing, and government sectors.

Expertise in Business Continuity Management (BCM)

Business Continuity Management is the foundation of organisational resilience.  Our BCM expertise is aligned with international standards such as:

  • ISO 22301
  • ISO 22313
  • ISO 22317
  • ISO 22318
  • BCM Institute's 7-Phase BCM Planning Methodology 

Key Areas of Focus

Governance & Policy Framework

You are expected to establish board-level oversight, executive accountability, and policy structures that align resilience objectives with corporate strategy.

This includes defining roles, responsibilities, and reporting lines — a familiar construct for former operations leaders accustomed to structured command hierarchies.

Risk Analysis and Review (RAR) & Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

You are to guide organisations in identifying critical activities, assessing financial and non-financial impacts, and determining recovery priorities.

This discipline resonates strongly with operations leaders trained in threat assessment and mission impact evaluation.

The BIA process formalises these skills into business language — recovery time objectives (RTO), recovery point objectives (RPO), and maximum tolerable period of disruption (MTPD).

Business Continuity Strategy (BCS) Development

You are to design cost-effective, risk-based BC strategies (BCS) covering:

  • Alternate sites
  • Workforce continuity
  • Technology resilience
  • Third-party dependencies
  • Supply chain recovery

This moves beyond emergency response and into sustainable operational recovery models required in regulated industries.

Plan Development (PD) & Testing & Exercising (TE)

Your expertise includes structured exercise design — tabletop, crisis, and full-scale exercises — enabling leaders to demonstrate competence under regulatory scrutiny.

 

Expertise in Crisis Management (CM)

Crisis Management addresses high-impact, high-uncertainty events that threaten organisational reputation, safety, and viability.

The CM methodologies align with:

  • ISO 22361
  • BCM Institute's 7-Phase CM Planning Methodology 

Key Areas of Focus

Crisis Governance Structure

You are expected to design Crisis Management Teams (CMTs), escalation protocols, and decision-making frameworks.

Former operations leaders naturally adapt to this environment, given their experience in command-and-control structures.

Strategic Decision-Making Under Uncertainty

You are to develop structured crisis decision frameworks that move beyond instinct and hierarchy, integrating:

  • Legal implications
  • Regulatory notification requirements
  • Stakeholder expectations
  • Media considerations

This ensures that tactical decisiveness is complemented by strategic and reputational awareness.

Crisis Communication

Your expertise covers internal, external, regulatory, and media communication protocols — an area often unfamiliar to operations leaders entering civilian leadership roles.

You are expected to emphasise message discipline, stakeholder mapping, and coordinated communications to protect brand integrity and stakeholder trust.

Post-Crisis Review & Organisational Learning

After-action reviews are institutionalised into governance systems, transforming incidents into strategic improvements — mirroring military debrief methodologies but adapted to corporate oversight structures.

 

Expertise in Operational Resilience

Operational Resilience represents the evolution of BCM — moving from recovery capability to assured service continuity under severe but plausible scenarios.

Regulatory frameworks influencing this discipline include guidance from:

  • Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS)

  • Bank of England

  • International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) 

  • European Commission

  • Federal Reserve System (FED)

  • Australian Prudential Regulation Authority

  • Hong Kong Monetary Authority
  • Monetary Authority of Singapore
  • Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP)
  • Bank Negara Malaysia

The methodologies align with:

  • ISO 22361
  • BCM Institute's 3-Phase - 15-Stage Planning Methodology

Key Areas of Focus

Identification of Critical Business Services (CBS)

Your role is to help your organisation determine which services, if disrupted, would cause intolerable harm to customers, markets, or financial stability.

This concept parallels mission-critical capability mapping in defence operations.

Impact Tolerance Setting

Rather than asking “How quickly can we recover?”

Operational resilience asks:  “What level of disruption can we tolerate before harm becomes unacceptable?”

You are expected to define measurable impact tolerances in terms of time, volume, and service degradation.

Mapping of Resources & Interdependencies

You are to develop frameworks that require end-to-end mapping of:

  • People
  • Technology
  • Facilities
  • Information
  • Third parties

This systems-thinking approach closely resembles operational logistics mapping but is adapted to digital and financial ecosystems.

Severe but Plausible Scenario Testing

You are expected to design stress scenarios, including:

  • Cyber-attacks
  • Technology outages
  • Pandemic-scale workforce disruption
  • Supply chain collapse
  • Reputational crises

Leaders transitioning from uniformed services excel in scenario-based planning; you are to refine this capability into regulator-ready resilience testing.

 

Certification & Professional Development Pathway

You should be attending programmes (that build strong foundation) to transform your operational leadership experience into civilian-recognised credentials through:

  • Structured training modules
  • Case-based learning
  • Practical simulations
  • Professional certification tracks
  • Continuing professional development (CPD)

This ensures that operations leaders do not merely “enter” the civilian sector but do so with credibility, structured competency, and industry recognition.

As a Singaporean aged 40 or above, you should be attending the 70% SSG-funded course.

 

Integration of Military Strengths into Civilian Excellence

Operations leaders bring:

  • Discipline and execution focus
  • Structured command thinking
  • Risk awareness
  • Decisive leadership
  • Team coordination under stress

You should focus on refining your expertise to bridge these strengths with:

  • Corporate governance requirements
  • Regulatory compliance expectations
  • Stakeholder engagement models
  • Financial impact analysis
  • Strategic communication frameworks

The result is a professional who is not just operationally strong but also regulator-, board-, and market-ready.

Conclusion

The civilian sector increasingly values resilience as a strategic capability rather than a compliance function.

Organisations must demonstrate structured preparedness, regulatory alignment, and measurable service continuity under stress.

Through your upgrading or enhancement of your expertise in Business Continuity Management, Crisis Management, and Operational Resilience, operations leaders are equipped with internationally aligned methodologies, recognised standards, and practical competencies that translate military precision into civilian leadership excellence.

This foundation sets the stage for the remainder of this eBook—a structured pathway that transforms operational experience into a distinguished,  sustainable professional career in the civilian sector.

 

Find out more about Blended Learning BCM-300 [B-3] & BCM-5000 [B-5]

Please feel free to send us a note if you have any of these questions to


 

Find out more about Blended Learning CM-300 [CM-3] & CM-5000 [CM-5]

To learn more about the course and schedule, click the buttons below for the CM-3 or CM-300 Crisis Management Implementer course and the CM-5 or CM-5000 Crisis Management Expert Implementer course.

Please feel free to send us a note if you have any of these questions to