White Paper - Systemic Enablers

Systemic Enablers: The Hidden Backbone That Will Define Your Next Crisis

A practical framework for managing shared, enterprise-wide and external dependencies 

This white paper addresses the gap between regulatory compliance and true operational resilience within UK financial services firms following the March 2025 FCA and PRA operational resilience milestone. While most organisations successfully identified Important Business Services (IBS), defined impact tolerances, and mapped dependencies, these efforts often remained superficial - focused on lists, time-based tolerances, and direct dependencies rather than enabling practical resilience management.

The white paper introduces the concept of systemic enablers - the shared, enterprise-wide and external dependencies that underpin multiple services simultaneously. Examples include infrastructure and utilities such as Active Directory, AWS, CHAPS, and the national grid. When these enablers fail, their impact cascades across the enterprise, revealing weaknesses in resilience and governance.

Who should read this eBook:

✓  Operational resilience & business continuity leaders 
✓  Board members & executives 
✓  Risk, compliance & transformation teams 
✓  Technology & change leaders 

You will gain valuable insight about: 

• Why compliance alone isn't enough to ensure resilience
• The hidden dependencies that can disrupt multiple services at once
• A step-by-step framework to manage and govern critical enablers
• How to plan for disruptions with impact tolerances and degraded modes
• Ways to turn suppliers, governance and risk into resilience enablers