Business impact levels (BILs) measure the potential impact a disruption or loss of a particular business function or asset would have on an organization. BILs are often used to prioritize risks and inform risk management decisions.
They are an essential input for example, to risk assessments, including when assessing consequence ratings of risk events.
To conduct a BIL analysis, an organization typically follows these steps:
Identify business functions and assets: First, the organization identifies the key business functions and assets that are critical to its operations. These may include things like production processes, financial systems, customer data, and physical assets.
Evaluate the potential impact of a disruption: For each business function or asset, the organization evaluates the potential impact of a disruption or loss. This can include measures such as financial impact, customer impact, legal or regulatory consequences, and reputational damage.
Assign BILs: Based on the evaluation of potential impact, the organization assigns BILs to each business function or asset. BILs are typically assigned using a scale such as low, medium, high, or critical.
Prioritize risks: Based on the BILs assigned to each business function or asset, the organization can prioritize risks and focus its risk management efforts on the most significant risks.
Some examples of business impact levels might include:
Low business impact
Low to medium business impact
High business impact
Extreme business impact
Catastrophic business impact
Conducting a BIL analysis can help organizations understand the potential impact of risks to their operations and prioritize their risk management efforts accordingly. It is an important part of a comprehensive risk management process.
BIL analysis and guidance are included in the core functions of SECTARA. You can download a BIL template by exporting a report from the SECTARA Free Plan.
You can also claim your free copy of the essential reference guide, the Security Risk Management Aide-Mémoire (SRMAM), when you sign up for a free plan at SECTARA.