The national Business Continuity Management (BCM) programme is a five-year, $30 million initiative by Spring Singapore to get small companies onto the BCM bandwagon early.

Based on the SS 540 framework - a national BCM standard - the programme is a one-stop shop for companies to get access to BCM certification and funding, among other things.

Funded by Spring and run by the Singapore Business Foundation (SBF), the programme hopes to raise awareness of BCM among organisations, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises.

According to SBF, small companies represent more than 90per cent of the businesses in Singapore. With smaller margins and resources, SMEs can ill afford to be hit by disruption: their collapse could also affect the national economy.

One advantage of the National BCM programme over other programmes run by the private sector is that local companies can apply for government funding. Up to 70 per cent of the costs of the BCM training and certification can be defrayed if the companies meet the requirements listed by Spring.

Depending on the size of the company, the cost and duration of a BCM programme can run into six-figure sums and take from six months to two years to complete.

For more information, contact SBF on 6827-6867 or e-mail: bcm@sbf.org.sg.