Author: Jim Mitchell

“This isn’t working.”  “I’ve changed.”  “I don’t see a future with you.”  Those ‘breakup’ lines may apply to your Business Continuity Management software or your latest paramour. Not all relationships succeed.  When things go awry, goodbye may be the best solution.  But that may seem impossible – even when you know it’s necessary.  You’ve invested […]

The immediate reaction to a cyber-security incident is the FUD factor (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt); more like ‘chickens running around with their head cut off’. An agile response requires tested and documented Incident Response Plans – including Crisis Management, Business Continuity and IT Disaster Recovery Plans. Automating the workflow facilitates seamless collaboration and the ability […]

Definition: Technology modeling is a point-in-time snapshot of an Enterprise’s IT Services – including its dependencies on infrastructure – and interfaces to other services and Business Processes which depend on them.  This organizational Technology Model provides executives the critical decision support they need to understand the impacts of a service disruption.

Within Business Continuity circles there is ongoing debate about the relevance and role of Risk Assessment in developing a BCM program. Having been in the industry for more than 20 years, I understand the issue from both the sides. Traditional, formalized Risk Assessment aims to identify the threats to which our organization is vulnerable. Once […]

As a Business Continuity Management (BCM) solution provider, the first question I ask potential clients is: What are your major program challenges? Here’s what I hear: We don’t have a seat at the executive table where major decisions are made. The program lacks executive buy-in. BCM is at the bottom of the priorities list for […]

As a Business Continuity practitioner with more than 20 years of experience, I have seen, reviewed and created many continuity and disaster recovery plans. I have seen them in various shapes and sizes, from a meager 35 row spreadsheet to more than 1,000 pages in 3-ring binders. In most of these plans the planner’s intent […]

As part of its Resiliency program, one of our clients recently performed their Annual Disaster Recovery test in which they failed over their production data center to a backup data center. The test was scheduled for 96 hours (4 days) to restore their Tier 0 Mission Critical services, and involved 43 Applications, 17 different Infrastructure […]

If you’re new to Business Continuity, you have a lot to learn.  A thorough understanding of Risk – and how to assess Risk – need not be on your To Do list. As a BCM professional, you already know how much time you spend on Risk Assessments.  Have you ever considered how little value a […]

That question usually comes from an executive after some other organization has a business crisis that makes global or national headlines. The question causes anxiety in many Business Continuity Planners. I remember the first time I got that question. A local business had suffered a lightning strike, cutting power and frying much of their electrical […]