The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce & Industry, SCCI, represented by the Sharjah Training & Development Centre, STDC, organized a four-day training course aimed at developing the skills of its employees on the requirements and the internal audit of the Business Continuity Management System ISO 22301: 2019.

This comes as part of the SCCI’s commitment to improving performance and developing services, by spreading the culture of quality, preparing a competent staff to implement those requirements, creating a stimulating environment for creativity, and enhancing employees' ability to excel in serving the business community.

With the participation of 11 employees, the training course was attended by Maryam Saif Al Shamsi, Assistant General Director, Support Sector of the SCCI, and presented by Ali Madi, Regional Director for Training Services at STDC, where he dealt with the objectives of the business continuity management system, including the continuity of providing services during crises and emergencies, achieving the strategic objectives of the organization, and keeping abreast with new updates in administrative and institutional work.

The trainees also learned about the role of ISO 22301: 2019 in achieving organizational and societal security, the basic requirements for obtaining this specification, internal audit requirements and defining the roles and responsibilities of auditors, as well as the internal audit planning mechanisms, procedures, and follow-up methods in all stages of the implementation of the business continuity management.

Maryam Saif Al Shamsi said: “The SCCI is keen to cater to the needs of its members and customers and develop its monitoring mechanisms to keep pace with the services marketplaces and the optimal use of competent human resources. It also looks to develop highly efficient methodologies and systems to support innovation and creativity to achieve the highest levels of quality and improve its performance to meet the aspirations of its vision in serving the interests of the private sector.”

Al Shamsi pointed out that the training course is one of a series of courses held by the STDC as part of the annual operational work plan, explaining that the goal of such events is to raise work efficiency and to maintain the system of institutional excellence by fulfilling the requirements of ISO and comprehensive quality management.

She added: “The business continuity management helps enhance the SCCI’s efforts to identify risks and to develop the appropriate controls to manage them, adopt a preventive approach to minimize the impact of crises, ensure basic business continuity, minimize downtimes, and other fundamentals of risk management at the SCCI.”