“Hi, I’m Andy Mason, owner and Director of Logical Resilience Limited. I have been a tutor for BC Training for the past 4 years and deliver across all of the BCI approved courses. I also teach certified foundation, lead implementer and lead auditor training in ISO22301.”
What interested you to get into the world of BC?
“I had a background in IT operations for many years, achieving membership of the British Computer Society (MBCS) and becoming a Chartered IT Professional (CITP), working in the public and private sectors, eventually becoming an IT Auditor. My first real insight to the world of BC came at Sainsbury’s when I was auditing the company’s Millennium/Y2K Project. This was being delivered as a BC project, and I spent a few years working closely with both IT and the BC Team under the leadership of Steve Mellish (former Chairman of the BCI).”
What was your first job in BC?
“An opportunity arose to join the BC team at Sainsbury’s, and I took the leap from Audit and never looked back. My role was as deputy to Steve, with a particular focus on IT delivering a new datacentre approach with Accenture, and also expanding from the ‘store support centre’ scope out into the distribution depot environment.
Retail is a 24/7, always changing and fast-moving environment. Whilst there I was involved in the response to various incidents – Petrol Crisis (the original one), Foot and Mouth disease, protest group disruptions, store fires, and product recalls (not an easy task), to name a few.
It was at Sainsbury’s that I joined the Business Continuity Management Committee (BCM/1), at the British Standards Institute. The committee were responsible for the development of BS25999, both the Code of Practice and the management system requirements standards for BC which led onto the development of ISO22301.”
How many years have you worked in this industry?
“Over 20 years, starting at Sainsbury’s before spending 12 years at PwC UK (delivering a new BC programme from scratch to BS25999 certification, taking that into Africa, moving the UK and 16 countries in Africa to ISO22301, then adding 12 countries in the Middle East, plus more), then the past 5 years as an independent company.”
Have you attended any big events since entering the world of BC?
“I have attended BCI conferences and events for many years, both in the UK and in Europe, and have spoken at the BCI’s World Conference and other events on a number of occasions, plus taking the BC message to the BCS, and producing papers for a few publications.”
Have you won any awards?
“I have been fortunate enough to work with some talented people over the years, and have been recognised and shortlisted and highly-commended on a number of occasions, winning the CIR Business Continuity Manager of the Year in 2010, and BC Strategy of the Year with our African colleagues in 2012.”
What are your hobbies?
“I have had the blessing of having three children, and all parents know that hobbies are mainly put aside as you their development and opportunities. I am a firm believer in giving back to society (27 years as an officer in the Boys’ Brigade following 12 years ‘in the ranks’) and that, and my wife’s influence has seen our daughter (27) thrive in the NHS, and both boys (25 and 22) excel in secondary teaching and support.
I do like to travel, and managed a lot whilst at PwC. I have always been keen on sports, at my age the mind is still strong, but the body not so much! I can still run the line at the boy’s football when asked, and I like to still go and watch each week. I also play a bit of golf, badly – the boys call it ‘sholf’ (I will let you guess…)! The past couple of years I have been involved in a local village cricket club looking after the grounds, and last season managed to play a few games behind the stumps as wicketkeeper.”
What do you think are the positives and negatives of working in BC?
“I have always found BC to be a very ‘giving’ discipline, with lots of people prepared to give up their time to support the BCI and all its various chapters and groups, the BSI and the wacky world of standards, mentoring, writing papers and sharing experiences at conferences, etc. For me, BC is a people thing – it is all about the people, not the process or even ‘the plan’! I suppose this is why I enjoy the role of tutor, working with people coming into the BC world, or building on their competencies and confidence.
I always tell my students I have 3 brain cells – one is logical, one is practical, and I can never remember the third one! If BC is neither logical or practical, it doesn’t do it for me. Bobby Moore was purported to have said “football is a simple game, made complicated by those who should know better”, and I firmly believe that should apply to BC as well. I suppose this is one of the negatives I have seen develop over the years – in the standards world I believe if you have more than one standard, its not standard. Similarly, parallel universes of activity such as ‘crisis management’ and ‘organisation/operational/business resilience’ (take your pick – or just resilience in my book!) have muddied the water, and I firmly believe a good business continuity programme should be covering both – building resilience and respond to all incidents up to what may constitute a crisis.”
What advice would you give to someone who is considering a career in BC?
“I think BC is a great discipline to get into, and can be a rewarding career. You will need the ability to work with people from the post room to the boardroom, deal with those who do support you, those that might, and those that won’t. It takes a mindset that is tenacious and not easily put off, and one that can work at the strategic level and down into the weeds of detail. My biggest success was seeing a young man that I inherited grow and develop over the years to have the competence and confidence to set out on his own. If all of this, is you, and you want something that is both interesting and can be exciting, then BC is for you.”
If you were a delegate, which BC Training course would you enrol onto, and why?
“For many years I avoided the GPG and the CBCI qualification – but made sure my team all did it. Having trained on the course for a few years now, the stand out course for me is The CBCI Course – it covers the whole lifecycle of activity and allows you to see each professional practice in context with the others in the programme, and enables that recognition through formal qualification too.”
