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2nd Asia Business Continuity Awards 2008 (ABCA)

10 November 2008

The 2nd Asia Business Continuity Awards (ABCA2008) Ceremony was held on 5th November 2008, at the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Hotel. This event was held in conjunction with the 8th Annual Business Continuity Management Conference -- “Unleash the Power of a GREEN BCM”.

ABCA aims to recognize excellence in the achievement of individuals and organisations that have significantly contributed to the business continuity industry. It grants the highest possible honor in the Asia Pacific to the recognition and acknowledgement of individuals and organisations in their efforts in business continuity.

In addition, ABCA seeks to facilitate networking amongst business continuity professionals and associated parties, to exchange ideas and updates in the growth and development in the industry. It also creates an opportunity to increase the visibility, significance and necessity of having a Business Continuity Management System in the culture of every business.

ABCA 2008 attracted entries from Saudi Arabia, Korea, United States of America, India, Japan, United Kingdom and Singapore. Nominees came business continuity related and financial industries, BPOs and end users.

List of winners:

Individual Category

• Business Continuity Manager of the Year – Abdulrahman M. Alonaizon, Arab National Bank.
• Lifetime Achievement – Wong Tew Kiat, Singapore Computer Systems Ltd

Business Category

• Business Continuity Provider of the Year (BCM Services) – Singapore Computer Systems Ltd.
• Business Continuity Provider of the Year (BCM Software) -- Office-Shadow Ltd
• Group Excellence in Business Continuity Management – Arab National bank
• Group Excellence in Business Continuity Management – Infosys BPO Ltd
• Product or Service Innovation of the Year – BSI Management Systems

ABCA 2008 was judged by an international panel of judges; all are certified professionals in the industry with more than 10 years experience and are highly regarded in the field of business continuity:

• Lyndon Bird, Technical Director of Business Continuity Institute (based in UK)
• John Worthington, Board Member of Business Continuity Institute (based in New Zealand)
• Masamichi Synohara, BCI Japan Representative (based in Japan)
• Kenny Seow, Lifetime achievement winner for ABCA 2007 (based in Australia).

"The Asia Business Continuity Awards is not only opened to local Singapore organisations but those in the region as well. This year, we see a growing number of international entries for the awards and this is definitely a positive sign that interest in the award is growing." said Kenny Seow, the chairman for the ABCA 2008 awards presentation ceremony and one of the judges. "The entries received were of very high quality and the panel of judges had a very difficult time in the scoring and selection process. After several rounds of discussions and conference calls, the judges finally agreed on the winners. The scores of some of the nominees are very close indeed!"

"I congratulate BCP Asia for taking the initiative to organise this award and thank those who have contributed in one way or another to make this year’s award a success. I would like to encourage more organisations and BCM practitioners to participate in the awards next year. It is only through your participation that we will be able to bring the business continuity industry to greater heights." Kenny continued.

Pankaj Rai, BSI Management Systems South East Asia Managing Director, Winner of Product or Service Innovation of the Year said, "On behalf of BSI, I am delighted that ABCA has honoured BSI with this award for its work in business continuity management. BSI recognised the vital importance of BCM in protecting the resilience of organisations throughout the world and developed a number of ‘value-add’ solutions around the BS 25999 standard, including certification and training services. Through these services, organisations of any size, industry and geographic location can implement a proven business continuity plan and clearly demonstrate to all their stakeholders that they meet industry best practices for BCM."

According to the winner of individual awards category, Lifetime Achievement – Wong Tew Kiat from Singapore Computer Systems Ltd (SCS): "I’ve been in the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) industry for 20 years and I am still enjoying each day, learning and enriching myself during the numerous discussions or sharing sessions with my team members, customers, industry partners and competitors. There are just so many incidents and life experiences we can learn from one another. I strongly believe that all organisations, and even nations, should be equipped with a sound BC/DR plan. The plan should incorporate the best practices in light of the natural catastrophes, terrorism and geopolitical tension and should be tested and retested to further refine and ensure that all areas are well-covered," SCS is also the winner for Business Provider of the Year (BCM Services).

The 2nd Asia Business Continuity Awards was organised by Business Continuity Planning Asia. The next ABCA will be held during October/November 2009; nominations will open June/July 2009. For more updates, see www.bcmconference.com