Top 8 business continuity certifications to consider in 2022
There are many certifications available, including the Certified Business Continuity Professional and Certified Disaster Recovery Engineer.
Business continuity certifications can help organizations get the right people in place to design and execute plans in case of a disaster.
Business continuity is important for organizations of all sizes. It provides a set of practices and processes to help businesses continue operations in the face of an unexpected event or natural disaster. It is often paired with the closely related practice of disaster recovery -- or having the right continuity processes in place to recover when operations are interrupted.
Certifications provide a form of validation for an IT professional's knowledge and expertise to help execute best practices and operations for an organization to survive and continue operations when there is an event that interrupts the business.
Here are some top business continuity certifications in 2022.
1. Certificate of the Business Continuity Institute
Certification details: The Certificate of the Business Continuity Institute is a course of study and certification offered by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI). The course is designed to help provide a solid understanding of the best practices for business continuity management. The course takes three to five days for in-person study and is also available online.
Prerequisites: Certification requires completion of the course, which teaches applications about the BCI good practice guideline. The course can be completed through a training facility or via a self-study approach.
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Number of exams: One.
Cost per exam: $440 (converted from British pounds)
Website: https://www.thebci.org/training-qualifications/business-continuity-certification-cbci.html
2. Certified Business Continuity Professional
Certification details: The Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) designation is offered by Disaster Recovery Institute (DRI) International. It is an experience-driven certification for professionals that have already worked in the field of business continuity.
Prerequisites: Two or more years of experience in the disaster recovery or business continuity space. The CBCP also requires that applicants have specific expertise across at least five subject areas outlined by DRI International in its listing of Professional Practices for Business Continuity Management. The DRI lists 10 practices for business continuity management including continuity program initiation and management; risk assessment; business impact analysis, business continuity strategies, incident response; plan development and implementation; awareness and training programs, business continuity plan assessment and maintenance; crisis communications; and coordination with external agencies.
Number of exams: One qualifying examination is required, with a passing score being 75% or higher.
Cost per exam: There is an application fee of $400 and then an annual renewal fee of $200.
Website: https://drii.org/certification/cbcp
3. ISO 22301 Certified Business Continuity Manager
Certification details: The ISO 22301 Certified Business Continuity Manager (CBCM) is a designation offered by Certified Information Security (CIS) organization. The CBCM is based on the ISO 22301:2019 standard, which defines a framework for planning and operating a business continuity management system.
Prerequisites: Applicants need a minimum of five years of business continuity experience. There are also three prerequisite training courses including CIS Policy Workshop: ISO 31000 Enterprise Risk Management; CIS Policy Workshop: ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management; and Best Practices to Deploy, Exercise, and Certify BCM.
Number of exams: Three. Candidates must pass CIS exams in risk management (RM101), business continuity management strategy (BCMS101) and the actual CBCM exam (BCMS 102).
Cost per exam: $300
4. EC-Council Disaster Recovery Professional
Certification details: The EDRP certification is delivered by EC-Council -- an organization known for its Certified Ethical Hacker designation. The EDRP includes a course of study to help train individuals in the concepts and practices of business continuity and recovery including business impact analysis.
Prerequisites: Minimum two years of experience with business continuity.
Number of exams: One.
Cost per exam: $2,200 (including training and courseware)
Website: https://iclass.eccouncil.org/our-courses/disaster-recovery-professional-edrp/
5. Certified Disaster Recovery Engineer
Certification details: The Certified Disaster Recovery Engineer is offered by cybersecurity certification vendor Mile2. The certification is particularly useful for those in government settings as it meets the CNSSI-4016 directive on National Information Assurance Training Standard for Risk Analysts and Risk Management from the National Security Agency (NSA).
Prerequisites: A minimum of one year of information systems or IT management experience.
Number of exams: One.
Cost per exam: $550
Website: https://www.mile2.com/cdre_outline/
6. Business Continuity and Resiliency Professional
Certification details: The Business Continuity and Resiliency Professional certification is offered by the National Institute for Business Continuity Management.
Prerequisites: Two years of related work experience or the completion of the BCM-901 Diploma in Business Continuity and Resiliency Management course.
Number of exams: One.
Cost per exam: $500
Website: https://www.nibcm.org/
7. Certified Business Resilience Manager
Certification details: The Certified Business Resilience Manager (CBRM) is offered by the Business Resilience Certification Consortium International (BRCCI). The CBRM can be taken with or without training that is providing by BRCCI.
Prerequisites: None listed.
Number of exams: One.
Cost per exam: $495 (without training), $995 with training
Website: https://www.brcci.org/index.php/certification/business-continuity-certification
8. Business Continuity Management Certification/Business Continuity Certified Expert
Certification details: The Business Continuity Management Institute has a trio of certifications with the Business Continuity Certified Planner, Business Continuity Certified Specialist and the top-tier certification of Business Continuity Certified Expert. These designations -- while globally recognized -- are organized and delivered out of Singapore.
Prerequisites: At least three years of business continuity management experience and completion of one of the following courses: BCM-400: ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS) Manager or BCM-5000: ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS) Expert Implementer.
Number of exams: One.
Cost per exam: $110 (converted from Singapore dollars)
Preparing for certification
Preparing for a business resilience certification can involve many different activities.
As listed above, there are often prerequisites for certifications. Those prerequisites can include a certain number of years of working experience in the field of business resilience and disaster recovery. Some certifications also require that applicants complete certain courses. Be sure to check with the certifying authority to confirm the latest requirements.
Many of the certificate authorities also provide their own training programs to help applicants with a guided course of study that covers the topics that will be addressed in a certification exam. The training programs can be offered in person and online. Some certifying organizations also provide the option of self-study guides to help applicants.
It's certainly not always necessary for an applicant to take the certifying firm's training programs. For individuals who are confident they have the necessary disaster recovery skills and understand the nuances of the profession in detail, it is also possible to sit for an exam without taking additional training.
