An alternative way of looking at things is to think of the business’s assets. These might include:


• Physical assets (premises, equipment, plant, tools, etc.); • Monetary assets (cash in the bank or projected income); • People (knowledge, skills and experience); •


Intellectual property (e.g. computer programs, designs, patents, copyrighted materials, etc.);


• Reputation and goodwill.


Once we’ve listed the assets, we can determine which are the most critical. We can do this by assessing the impact to the business of the loss of any of our assets, or our inability to perform a particular function. In this way we can focus on the risks to the most critical areas of our business.


It may also be helpful to group the assets (e.g. by location or function or product/ service), so we can assess the threats to each group of assets as well as individually.


“You don’t need a parachute to sky-dive – you only need a parachute to sky-dive twice!”


Anon


CHAPTER 2 31


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