Launched in December last year, the SS507 standard serves to differentiate BC/DR (business continuity/disaster recovery) service providers and provide guidance for organizations in selecting the best-fit providers. It was developed by IDA and the Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Working Group of the Information Technology Standards Committee in Singapore.
"IDA and our industry partners will promote the standard internationally, especially to regional BC/DR service providers and standards associations," an IDA spokesperson told CNETAsia.
IDA is optimistic that the SS507 will become an internationally recognized standard, considering that more companies are incorporating BC/DR into their work plans.
"As there is a need, and given that there is no other comprehensive BC/DR standard for service providers in the world, the international community will likely respond positively to the standard," the spokesperson added.
Lau Soon Liang, assistant chief executive at NCS, one of the seven service providers in Singapore that have attained the BC/DR certification, told CNETAsia that the standard incorporates some of the best practices recognized internationally. Besides incorporating stringent local elements to ensure Singapore-based service providers deliver high quality BC/DR services, the SS507 benchmarks against the top practices in the region. It also covers areas such as infrastructure, technology, process, people, contractual and legal aspects of providing BC/DR service services, he explained.
"These can be easily picked up by a standards organization, such as BSI or ISO, to formulate a global/international standard. As such, this places Singapore in an advantageous position if such a standard is to be introduced worldwide," Lau noted.
Customer testimonials can also boost awareness of this standard around the world. "Today, some of our BC/DR services are used by MNCs operating in Singapore. They can be a channel to (help make the standard) internationally recognized," Lau noted.
"Singapore agencies, such as IDA and EDB, can also bring our companies to international trade shows, and promote the standard at international conferences on security and BC/DR," he added.
Differentiating service providers
The SS507 is said to be unique, unlike other benchmarks such as the BS7799.
Goh Thiam Poh, director, infrastructure and operations support, Managed Hosting Services, SingTel, said: "As business continuity planning is such an important part of today's business operating environment, most standards will include some level of BC planning and recommendation, but they differ in terms of areas of focus."
The BS7799 is a standard specification for Information Security Management Systems that enables senior management to monitor and control their security, ensuring that systems fulfill corporate, customer and legal requirements.
The BS7799 contains 10 sections, where section nine covers business continuity and disaster recovery planning. In contrast to the objective of this section, which is to counteract interruptions to business activities and critical business processes from the effects of major failures or disasters, the SS507 specifies requirements that BC/DR service providers must fulfill.
"BS7799 is a management standard for the protection of an organization's information assets. The SS507 serves to differentiate BC/DR service providers and provides guidance for organizations in choosing the best-fit providers," the IDA spokesperson explained.
So far, seven of the 15 to 20 service providers in Singapore have attained the BC/DR certificate. They are Hewlett-Packard, IBM, NCS, Singapore Computer Systems, Equinix, SingTel Expan and StarHub.
"Six more service providers have requested for information and a number of them are undergoing the audit to achieve the BC/DR certification," the IDA spokesperson said.
Play video
There are currently no comments for this post.