Incident Management 103: Communications
During an incident there is constant need or desire for information from many stakeholders: Senior Management wants to know what is impacted, what the response is, what the expected outcome is and when operations will be back to ‘normal’. Line managers who are indirectly impacted want to know when they can get back to business-as-usual... read more →
Data Migration: How-to Guide
You’ve spent years creating Plans and accumulating data in your legacy DRP software. Now you’re no longer sure that old software is capable of providing everything you need. But you assume you face a ‘Hobson’s Choice’: stick with the old legacy software (ugh!), or start all over again (worse!). Your assumptions may be wrong. You.. read more →
Business Continuity Management Software – The Clamor for Ease of Use
‘The solution has to be easy to use’. ’Our end-users log in once, maybe twice, a year to update their business continuity plans and their BIAs’. These are statements we often hear, during preliminary discussions, from BCM managers who reach out to us to explore our software solution. One forthright Business Resiliency Manager defined ease-of-use.. read more →
Business Continuity Management Software – Traction Control
I have worked in the Business Continuity Management industry, in many roles, since 1996. I have been a Disaster Recovery Coordinator for a financial institution, a Business Continuity consultant for several large organizations, a BCM Software designer, a trainer and a BCM industry ‘cheer-leader’. LinkedIn, Twitter and BCM tradeshows are constantly flogging ‘How to get.. read more →
Incident Management – Planning for Incident Response
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plans often rely on assumptions (read more about them here). Some Business Continuity plans are very effective response plans but assume that, during an incident, it will be the only plan invoked. That’s a highly blinkered view. Lessons learned from disaster events such as Super storm Sandy prove that when.. read more →
5 Factors Weakening Today’s BCM Programs
The livelihood of many Business Continuity Management (BCM) programs is subject to corporate budgets and resource availability driven by corporate objectives and the organization’s position in the marketplace. Many organizations budget for BCM programs but fail to keep them alive, even in the most prosperous of times. Here are 5 possible factors: 1. Lack of.. read more →
Business Continuity – Is Risk Assessment Relevant?
Risk Assessments have always been a ‘best practice’ in Business Continuity Management. That classic legacy approach has required a thorough examination of threats & vulnerabilities, probability & impacts – resulting in some manifestation of risk index. But at the end of the day, Business Continuity Planning is about the ability to respond to disruptions. Does.. read more →
Assumptions: Business Continuity Plan Killers
Assumptions are the IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices) of Business Continuity. Anyone can create one and, once strategically placed (usually tucked among the Mission Statement and Objectives) they have the capability to destroy a Business Continuity or Disaster Recovery Plan in an instant. So what can a Planner do to protect against those roadside bombs? I’ve.. read more →
BCM Simplified: It doesn’t have to be Complicated
The Business Continuity industry, consultants and associations have created a long list of standards, best practices guides, methodologies and certification processes. Sometimes, implementing these recommendations as part of an organizations’ BCM program becomes an obsession or an end unto itself. Perhaps it is time to take a step back and change perspective. Simplifying the Business.. read more →
eBRP – A Global BCM Solutions Provider
As the winner of the BCI – North American “2013 Business Continuity Product Provider of the Year” award, we’re surprised by the responses we have gotten from companies on other continents (and elsewhere in North America!). So we’d like to set the record straight: • “We’re not a Canadian company, so eBRP can’t help us.”.. read more →