Business Continuity and Crisis Management
Key words and phrases: business continuity, crisis management, risk
Crisis Management - What is it?
The ability to cope with any sort of incident, whatever it may be, is essential to any organisation. All companies, when put under pressure, should have the ability to respond in a manner that is entirely satisfactory in order to maintain their business and their credibility. Incidents cannot be avoided entirely, but can be handled in such a way that their impact is reduced and they do not turn into crises.
Every profitable business carries a risk element and tries to reduce this risk to retain normality in the business for as long as is possible. The correct handling of risk allows a company to stand out from the opposition, even assuming that all have well-developed Business Continuity Plans (BCP). Even a good BCP may not be adequate without good Crisis Management (CM).
Good BCP + Good CM = the best possible outcome
The ability to handle crises does not necessarily come naturally to the personnel within the organisation, and therefore those personnel require training in order to function the most effectively.
A sound business structure and BCP will certainly help a company to survive, and even to thrive, but the human factor is a vital ingredient in any plan. Without it the best plans can falter and even fail. However, a BCP is not necessarily required in order to exercise a business’s reaction to a crisis. The type of exercise that we can provide may be a very valuable part of the process for putting such a plan together, and may indeed act as the vital catalyst in such a process. The post-exercise debriefing and report are vital as learning and action points; without them there is little point in carrying out such an exercise.
The aim is to assist organisations to enhance the competence and skills of their personnel in the following areas:
- Reputational
- Technical
- Financial
- Legal
- Information Security
- Stress Management
- Employee Relations
Further information is available from:
Email:
Tel: +44 (0)1252 732555
