A Growing Industry: More Companies And People Are Realising The Need For Emergency Preparedness Planning And Travel Risk Management.

As part of our "Operating in Complex Security Environments" Networking Programme, Aprodex talks to Shaun Boulter, Director of Security at Assistance Alliance International (AA International Inc).

What is your background, and how have you developed your International Security and Risk Management career?
I am considered a specialist in all aspects of security and crisis risk management, including travel risk management. Prior to joining the AA International I was head of Crisis and Security Risk Management at RISQ Group based in Singapore, Prior to this I was also the European and Asian Security and Risk Manager for Perot Systems based in London, managing Europe and India where i also headed the Crisis Management Team. During this time i was responsible for developing and implementing the business continuity, security and risk management plans and operations in Europe and India. I have also gained extensive experience in Close Protection and Security Advisory roles. I was a security advisor and protection officer to the Qatar Foreign Minister for a period of four years, during which I travelled extensively on a global scale working and liaising with many foreign governments and security forces.

I have also performed a variety of other security related tasks such as surveillance operations, security surveys and close protection related tasks to members of foreign royalty and corporate VIPs in Europe, US and the Middle/Far East whilst being a senior consultant for Control Risks and also Red24. I was previously a member of the British Military for twelve years achieving the rank of sergeant, where I specialised in counterterrorism in Northern Ireland, the Middle East and Asia. I hold an MSc in Security & Risk Management from the University of Leicester. I am also a Singapore licensed Private Investigator and Security Officer. During my time in the military I was awarded the Queens Gallantry Medal.

What does your company do?
AA International (AAI), Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, is an assistance company and a member of the International Assistance Group (IAG). AA International operates from offices located in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta, Singapore Hong Kong, Seoul and Taipei.

The founding member company Asia Assistance Network (M) Sdn Bhd, was formed on 20th October 1998 is a 24 hours assistance company providing assistance services ranging from Medical Assistance, Security Assistance, Car Assistance, Third Party Administration Services, Home Assistance, Customer Service Assistance and other customised assistance services.

AA International, is today servicing over 5 million members, amongst our clienteles are over 30 major Insurance Companies, Airlines, as well as Corporate, Banks and Credit Cards companies throughout the region. AA International offers value added services in the form of comfort and security that help is just a phone call away. In turn, by ensuring that your Members quickly receive the best assistance available, AA International reduces the risk and cost of personal safety and operations locally and abroad.

Our 24 hours operations centre is managed by a team of dedicated staffs with multi language capabilities; our team of professionals is trained to handle security, medical, logistical and technical aspects of crises, minor and major emergencies with the efficiency and compassion that such events require providing round the clock assistance to your Members.

AAI also owns its own Air Ambulance service with two Lear Jet aircraft based in Asia (Singapore & Taipei), these aircraft operate under the brand name AeroMed Asia.

AAI provides solutions to members travelling worldwide. AAI is a Member and shareholder of the International Assistance Group with 36 offices and 46 round the clock alarm centres worldwide.

What are the biggest challenges your company faces today?
Remaining ahead of our competitors, so we always strive to provide a service that is flexible to fit with our clients requirements and allowing where possible for clients to have direct access to single points of contact and in so doing giving them a more client friendly boutique service.

How has your market changed in recent years, and how have current trends and developments affected the way your business operates?
The market has changed to our benefit as more and more companies and people are realising the need for emergency preparedness planning and travel risk management. Which is the reason our company is always looking to ‘build business for tomorrow’. We are constantly analysing what the threats are to companies and individuals at both their home location and also overseas. This then enables us to build and plan new services to meet these challenges head on and in so doing preparing and assisting our clients to be able to suffer minimal disruption to their operations.

What are your 5 year predictions for the development and innovation of your industry sector?
We foresee our company spreading further across the region as we engage more clients (such as the larger insurance companies that have regional presence). We allow our new clients to drive our growth in the region for this purpose as most of the larger insurance companies want and require a local presence to handle their policy holders. We are constantly looking at new products we can tag onto our services or clients policies that they sell to enhance our portfolio and also theirs.

What additional services do you procure to support your operations, and how do you source new suppliers?
We procure the services of our partners in the International Assistance Group (IAG) to support us with clients of ours who require assistance services in parts of the world that we do not have a presence. We also use tried, tested and vetted security consultants and consultancies to allow us to have a multiple tier of service providers we can call upon in the time of an emergency to help us support our clients on a global basis.

All our providers are normally sourced by recommendation or previous history with our company or a member of our team.

We are always looking for companies that have good synergies with us to either look at working together or to form partnerships so that we can provide more services to our existing and new clients.

What are your favoured technologies / equipment / “tools” for operating in Complex Security Environments?
Good intelligence is our primary state of the art technology service and this is done through a combination of both automated word search software and also physical analytical manpower. The combination of both automated and physical we believe allows us to be able to provide confirmed and verified proactive and reactive information to our clients. We understand there is a necessity to provide an analytical view and solution to each news alert we provide being of paramount importance so that a client can make an informed decision as to what to do with that information.

What products / services do you consider to be deficient in your area of expertise?
We can never have enough service providers on our books that can support us around the world in the time of a crisis. We are constantly looking for people and also companies that we can work with for such projects.

Technologies in the form of apps, travel tracking equipment be it travel itinerary monitoring systems and or GPS are constantly improving and developing new platforms to operate from so we are constantly monitoring technologies as they develop to see how we can integrate these technologies to improve and enhance our current range of services.

Internet business networks, such as Aprodex, enable a 24/7 capability to reach new clients and solicit new opportunities. Building a corporate presence and reputation on line is becoming ever more important - and unavoidable. What corporate communications methods do you employ to reach your target audience and what strategies do you have to increase your on line presence?
At present this is something we have only just started to look into and have considered the use of social networking such at Twitter. There are problems associated with this in that one bad comment will negate no matter how many good ones you have received. To date we have relied heavily on our marketing team and educating people as to who and what we are and allowing them to view our website and also to trial our travel risk management website.

Comment / Ask Questions about any issues related to the Interview via our . Shaun is specifically interested to hear and share information regarding evacuations in the Middle East over the last year as everybody who has been conducting evacuations from Syria, Egypt, Bahrain etc has experienced some difficulties. It would be ideal to learn from the experiences of others.

To comment Please Go To The Interview

More Interviews on "Operating in Complex Security Environments"

If you wish to be featured in our "Operating in Complex Security Environments" Networking programme, send an email (Subject: SPOTLIGHT Interview) to info@aprodex.com to request the interview questionnaire.

Risk & Resilience Expo

Olympia, London, 22 -23 September 2010

Not just another conference with the same old speakers; this is the first Risk & Resilience event where the exhibition is the lead. Coupled with great, free education material, innovative features and an opportunity to share information and network; this launch event is destined to be the central event of the risk management, business continuity and crisis management industries across Europe.
Risk & Resilience Expo will be where business and public sector professionals across Europe address the challenges of today whilst preparing for those of tomorrow at the only industry event of its kind in Europe.

A number of exciting features are being planned for the event. These include:

• Extensive free seminar programme – designed to bring the industry together to share their thoughts and experiences. This isn’t another event where the delegates are talked at. Please visit the seminars section of the web site.
• Innovations Village – see products that are totally new to the UK. This village will feature award winning new products from around the world. Go and see them and complete the evaluation form and you could win a Nintendo WII for your trouble. The winning product will be announced after the show.
• Consultants Arena – this are will be a relaxed zone where you can talk to industry experts in complete confidence. They will give you a 10 minutes review of your current BC or RM strategy and possible ways to improve it. Pre-booking will be required closer to the show.
• Personnel Issues – this area will include recruitment consultants and companies that specialise in the staff issues associated with BC & RM.

For more information about exhibiting please visit the web site or email lsales@risk-expo.com

For visitor or speaker information please email mbooth@risk-expo.com

www.risk-expo.com

Crisis Survivor launches Twitter-based crisis communication service

Business continuity planning consultancy, Crisis Survivor, has launched a new service which utilises micro-blogging site, Twitter, as a crisis communication tool.

The new service will provide the means for mass communication during a crisis and for use in coordinating contingency plans. Crisis Survivor believes that Twitter provides a cost-effective, more efficient method in communicating vital messages to employees.

Each company will have a Crisis Survivor managed Twitter account with all its employees following it. The account will remain dormant until necessary. After invocation ‘tweets’ will be sent to all employees via feeds and SMS messages to their mobile phones, updating them with advice.

Tony Gimple, managing director, Crisis Survivor, says; “The technology of communication during crisis situations have really evolved in the past decade. The logistics of mediums such as Twitter provide more efficient way of communicating to a large number of people. Although it is not a complete solution, it does provide another method to deliver urgent messages”

http://www.crisissurvivor.co.uk/

The Australian National Audit Office Publishes Business Continuity ‘Better Practice Guide’

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has published a new ‘Better Practice Guide’ to business continuity management.

Entitled ‘Business Continuity Management - Building resilience in public sector entities’ has been produced following consultation with Australian Government and private sector entities. It ‘provides a refreshed version of a previous ANAO Guide’ which is ‘presented in a more user-friendly format, and includes contemporary practical advice, case studies and references as well as exploring issues within the business continuity environment that have arisen since the previous ANAO publication’.

ANAO states that business continuity management is an essential component of good public sector governance and is part of an entity’s overall approach to effective risk management. It says that the guide will be a useful reference document for boards, chief executives and senior management in public sector entities.

Visit Aprodex to Download Report

BCM In The Food Chain: Joined-up Thinking Or Curate’s Egg?

Dr Helen Peck provides an insight into the findings of the latest study into resilience within the UK’s food chain and asks whether there is enough of a cohesive, market-wide approach to BCM to withstand a widespread incident.

Food supply is vital to us all. The supply chains that feed us are complex and far reaching. They are, according to some of the most widely used definitions from supply chain management, networks of interdependent organisations formed to facilitate high performing business models, deliver competitive advantage and ultimately better value to shareholders, customers and consumers. So far so good, but in reality they do much more. Supply chains are part of the fabric of our society. They link organisations, industries and economies and span the no-man’s land between the established remits of BCM and the civil contingencies agenda.

Food supply
In the UK, a situation threatening serious damage to human welfare constitutes an emergency under the Civil Contingencies Act. An event which may cause a disruption to the food supply is one of a number of possible scenarios covered by this definition. From a national security perspective too, the supply of food is designated as one of nine elements of the critical national infrastructure.

However, the characteristics of the food supply are quite different from most of the other elements of our critical infrastructure. The others are for the most part either: in the public sector (e.g. health, government and emergency services); concentrated in public sector oligopolies (e.g. privatised utilities) or in the case of finance, dominated by relatively few supposedly heavily regulated companies, currently hovering between private ownership and nationalisation.

In the UK, the production and supply of food has never been in public hands. It is a private sector endeavour, involving hundreds of thousands of businesses. Yet food has been at the centre of some of the most memorable national emergencies of recent times. Long before the financial system went into melt down and talk of toxic assets filled the air waves, food emergencies had demonstrated the need for a better understanding of systemic risk. With BSE in cattle it took stringent regulatory controls to prevent infection from rendered carcasses being re-introduced into the food chain, a practice that had amplified a naturally occurring low level risk into a high level full blown epidemic. In 2001, the outbreak of Foot & Mouth highlighted hitherto unrecognised interdependencies between sectors of industry as its effects rippled across the UK economy and beyond.

Supply chain vulnerability
It was Foot & Mouth preceded by another‘creeping crisis’ – the 2000 fuel protests – that first drew Cranfield University into research into supply chain vulnerability, risk and resilience and into contact with members of the Business Continuity Institute. As a newcomer to BCM, I had been faintly disappointed to see that early efforts to codify the disciplines’ aspirational remit actively sought to distance it from the concerns of emergency planning. PAS 56 explicitly aligned BCM with the operational risk concerns of corporate governance, encouraging continuity managers to focus on ‘quiet catastrophes’ that only affect and individual organisation. The earliest drafts of BS 25999 drew even clearer distinctions suggesting that “emergency planning pertains to activity that is conducted for the benefit of the public or society; business continuity management pertains to activity that is conducted for the benefit of a single organisation.”

Over the last five years, Cranfield University has completed two BCM studies into the UK’s food chains, both commissioned by Defra and supported by the Defra-chaired Food Chain Emergency Liaison Group (FCELG). The FCELG itself comprises representatives of central government departments, local government, industry trade associations and the Food Standards Agency. Its purpose is to facilitate dialogue between key stakeholders and assist in the management of all manner of food chain crises or major emergencies and, of course, their prevention. Such dialogue is essential if we are to bridge the gaps between industry and government objectives.

The research processGiven the profile of the sector, it was logical that the research should advance from a business continuity platform rather than civil contingencies perspective, all be it with a systems-based approach, i.e. looking at systemic risk rather than single firm best practice. The research looked at the scope, drivers and limitations of BCM in the food chains; and asked about actual disruptions, known weaknesses and near misses. It then threw in three scenarios for good measure:

• loss of energy supplies;
• loss of fuel for road transport; and
• loss of people (e.g. due to some form of life threatening zoonotic disease – a disease that can be transmitted between animals and humans).

Back in 2005, these scenarios were regarded as ‘wild cards’, but were included because the events had the potential to affect all organisations. Over 100 managers with responsibility for business continuity, operational risk, quality or supply chain management from more than 50 organisations have shared their continuity plans, experiences and their views in the course of this work. The first phase of the study, funded by what is now Defra’s Food Policy Unit, involved market-leading companies and three small businesses engaged in the manufacturing, transport, wholesale and retail stages of the grocery sector. The resulting report Resilience in the Food Chain was previewed to contributors on 2 February 2007. Release was scheduled for the following Monday, but was delayed as it coincided exactly with the first confirmed outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of Avian Influenza in the UK, at a turkey farm in Suffolk. On a more positive note, the event also coincided with the launch of the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure. The CPNI is charged with the protection of key national assets from malicious attack. Last year, CPNI produced PAS 96 Defending Food and Drink and ran the first of its biannual seminars aimed at engaging with those with a legitimate interest in food defence and updating them on current research in the field.

The second phase of the Defra study, entitled Business Continuity in Food Services looked at the diverse and complex food service sector. This time it was managers from food big contract catering and facilities management companies, ‘grab and go’ food retailers, international burger and sandwich chains, hotels, small delis, plus a hospital trust, a City Council and those involved with feeding the military who were encouraged to ‘tell it like it is’. The biggest food service wholesale distributors, ready meals suppliers, importers of meat and produce did the same. The report was completed in September 2008, and is likely to be cleared for release into the public domain this spring. In the meantime, it is fair to say that the overall picture that emerged was something of a ‘curate’s egg’.

The overall picture
With one or two notable exceptions, the food service sector is a late-comer to BCM, but starts from a higher base compared to the position of its grocery industry counterparts two years earlier. As in the grocery sector, BCM is being driven by a combination of compliance requirements, the fear of reputational damage and client pressure.

The few Stock Exchange-listed companies involved in this study tended to have well established, comprehensive BCM programmes in place, though the majority of players in the industry are small or medium-sized privately owned or private equity businesses. Here the General Food Law makes its presence felt. Lessons have been learned from BSE and under EU law all food has to be traceable from point of origin to final point of sale, to facilitate recalls should they be necessary. As a result, traceability was recognised as important even in the smallest proprietor owned deli. The large and medium-sized businesses had formal or ad hoc crisis management and recall procedures in place. The system was tested for real by the Food Standards Agency in 2005 when contaminated Worcestershire sauce caused the recall of around 600 product lines. It was food manufacturers, not retailers or food service businesses, which bore the cost.

The study found that across the food service sector dedicated BCM managers were extremely rare and BS 25999 was not widely used. Nevertheless, organisations large and small were managing operational risk or intuitively taking steps to safeguard mission critical assets and activities. However, the complex structure of the industry meant the largest companies were sometimes protecting head offices and activities such as contract management, marketing and finance, rather than food preparation and consumer facing service outlets. Similarly, the public sector organisations – responding to the Civil Contingencies Act – focused their efforts on their core activities, i.e. the provision of health services, education or defence rather than ancillary activities like catering or facilities management.

While the study showed that word of the British Standard was spreading, it was often because clients – notably financial service firms – had brought it to their suppliers’ attention, usually prompted by concerns over pandemic planning. In other cases, it was the MoD or NHS Trusts that had started asking their suppliers awkward questions about pandemic provision. All but the tiniest businesses were aware of the hazards a pandemic posed. Most were maintaininga watching brief and hoping existing switching options, agency labour or even government intervention would see them through. Widespread failures of the National Grid or a disruption to the fuel supplies yielded a number of similarly ill-worked through responses.

For the more mundane localised events, it was remarkable how often interorganisational rather then intra-organisational solutions formed the basis of continuity management. When distribution centres were lost to fire, food supply contract consortium member rushed to each others’ assistance. After the Buncefield explosion, grab and go chains praised the efforts of suppliers who made heroic efforts to overcome the loss of access. In the public sector and publicprivate partnerships, reciprocal feeding arrangements between hospitals and prisons or even emergency supplies from local fast food restaurants had provided short-term cover. The small business entrepreneurs, who were keen to been seen as ‘good citizens’, were in practice embedded within informal networks and routinely helped each other overcome temporary difficulties, while fellow branded franchisees selforganised to overcome the hiccups of everyday business life.

Stand or fall together
It is fair to say that the food industry’sdiversity is its strength, in terms of product and business models, which under normal circumstances provide a high degree of resilience. In theory, at least, alternative supply options abound. However, when it comes to the challenges facing individual businesses, the interdependencies within the supply chain mean that a single firm’s BCM remit may fall short of the mark because the food chain as a whole is definitely more than the sum of its parts. The industry is probably more susceptible than any other to bad publicity, with firms and foodstuffs often regarded by nervous consumers as guilty by association, very occasionally with good reason. As a result, the considerable effort has gone in to managing contamination-related systemic risk. Contamination aside, an event may be specific to a single organisation, but the solution is likely to be dependent on others. Where the challenge is widespread – affecting common assets or activities - we need to think differently again.

A quick flick through recent issues of Continuity shows that leading practitioners have been reassessing the scope of BCM for some time, urging businesses to look beyond the concerns of operational risk and contemplate the impact of systemic disruptions or critical national infrastructure failures. I support their efforts. Competitive business models and favourable markets have delivered extraordinary value to consumers over recent years but, when it matters most, we may yet find that we stand or fall together.

Dr Helen Peck is senior lecturer in Corporate and Supply Chain Risk for Cranfield University at the Defence Academy College of Management and Technology, Shrivenham, UK.

Contact: h.peck@cranfield.ac.uk

Aricle appeared in the March/April edition of Continuity Magazine

BCM – Help Or Hindrance In Recession

Few of us are rich enough or poor enough to avoid the effects of the economic recession. It has affected public sector, commercial sector, charity sector and consumers. Behaviour, strategy, structures and most notable budgets have all been influenced by the downturn. As business continuity practitioners can we use our influence to improve the situation by adding value or are we subject to cuts as a discretionary spend?

At the BCI Symposium 2008 in Brighton there was a groundswell of opinion that the tools and techniques for crisis (incident) management were used for organisational crises during the credit crunch. In particular financial services had drawn on their business continuity manager’s expertise and indeed activated the relevant response teams. This was not for operational risk purposes; no fire, flood or bomb required to attack any retail bank or mortgage lender. It was to protect the brand in financial crisis (note the BCI definition of BCM - value creating activities and reputation etc).

On the other hand much discussion on websites and forums has related to business continuity being perceived only as a cost and of limited value. The cancellation of BC Expo, several conferences and events it is argued is an example of BCM being a luxury item and one of the first budgets to be reviewed if not reduced.

At the BCI North West Forum in February many of these issues came to light. Much of this article owes its substance to the honest and passionate members there. I have used anonymity to protect the innocent but every point was substantiated with one exception; Mel Gosling on his crusade regarding the legendary and unsubstantiated “80% of business fail within 18 months of a disaster”. I would like to thank Bernie Budworth QVC host and Helen Morris Marsh for their organisational skills.

BCM IssuesLooking at the effects in BCM we have seen redundancies in large and small organisations. Internal BC managers and external facing BCM consultants have equally been offloaded. We have seen dedicated work area recovery seats in DR centres being converted to syndicated and renegotiation of syndicated seats and DR contracts to ensure a cheaper deal for the client and retain their business from the vendor. In some cases DR has been brought in-house to reduce costs and indeed in many cases DR has been outsourced to reduce costs!

Training budgets have been cut; there are examples of training, travel and personal development being prohibited due to cost. BCM capability is being dictated by finance not business policy, regulation or operational need. Reciprocal arrangements that are free are seen as an alternative to professional 3rd parties. BCM exercises and meetings perceived as non critical are postponed. Un-motivated and fearful staff have no interest in BCM, they only care about job security (an interesting dichotomy).

Optimisation from Both Sides of the ArgumentThe effect on risk perception is interesting. On one hand corners are being cut, chances being taken and risks accepted to avoid costs such as insurance, reserves and alternatives. On the other hand this kind of exposure is a case for improved BCM capability. Businesses are going out of business at an alarming rate often regardless of risk appetite or BCM capability. On the other hand we have seen increasingly supply chain behaviour changing where more often than not a contractual obligation requires BCM. Requests and questionnaires ask for evidence of BCM capability and insist on BCM from inception. BS25999 has attracted more interest and downloads than any other standard. The BCI membership is growing.

Historically every major event has heralded in the BCM trade press a new era for BCM. Do you remember Y2K? That was advertised as a BC practitioner’s ticket to executive support, budgets galore and promotion to dizzy heights. Did Y2K deliver? In short no. Neither did 911, 7/7, Combined Code of Corporate Governance, Tsunami, Foot and Mouth, Civil Contingencies Act, Pandemic, BS25999… or any other single peril event, legislation or standard. Credit crunch will, as usual be perceived as the be all and end all and in hindsight we will wonder what all the fuss was about in BCM terms (those of us who still have houses and jobs).

Consequences of the Recession are ClearThere are serious consequences of the recession. Without a shadow of a doubt unemployment will increase and the effect on society is that theft and cyber crime will increase. One would imagine that could be a business case for BCM integrating with physical and information security. Suppliers will have to be more competitive and BCM could easily be the unique selling point (USP) that wins the edge to land new business.

Another value add for BCM. Single points of failure will result from downsizing as will the “sweating” of existing resources and increased risks of putting all your eggs in one basket. All good motivation for BCM.

We practitioners are often our own worst enemy. Given those all important 2 minutes in the lift alone with the CXO level what do we say? Bend their ear about business impact analysis or scenarios for rehearsals or confuse them with our dodgy language – BCMS, BCP, IMT, RTO, MTPoD, ITDR, BS25777 Information Communications and Technology Service Continuity at your peril. The CXO is in survival mode and we need to speak their language to inspire their confidence.

There is no good reason why BCM costs thousands and takes ages. There is too much talk and not enough action. Smoke and mirrors on BIA means we never understand what BIA is let alone understand our business (Note BS25999). Evacuation is the only process we agree on and even then, most organisations do them incoherently. Evacuation should not even be in a BC Plan but then again, many BC practitioners can never agree what should be.

Top Ten Ways of BCM Beating the Crunch

1. KISS Keep it simple stupidCut through the bureaucracy, confusing language and TLAs (Three letter abbreviations). Tell the CXO what you have to offer, give them solutions not problems.

2. Promote BCM as a revenue generationThink of ways to increase revenue such as through sales as a USP or that you would add BCM as a professional service you could sell for a fee to your customers (even in a local authority advice and assistance would take on a whole new meaning).

3. Promote BCM as a cost saving.Use the BIA to support multi-skilling, reduce overheads, utilise existing reserves and alternatives even business process re-engineering.

4. Use your privileged position.Out of everyone in your organisation you really have the unique and influential understanding of what really makes the organisation tick. (Note BS25999 Understanding your organisation!) Use this proactively to come up with ideas and business cases.

5. Stop whingingOne of the main complaints from BCMers we never get executive board support. Now is not the time for “pester power”. BCM needs to been seen as a useful resource not a drag.

6. Coordinate and integrate.Set up meetings with sales, production, PR, functional departments, health and safety, security, information security, IT, facilities, HR, risk management, legal, environmental. United we stand divided we fall. Bring everyone in and lead them to business continuity in its most literal sense – organisational survival.

7. Supply chain representationShow value creation in the supply chain. Don’t write a questionnaire on BCM and threaten a supplier with legal action or external audit. Go and visit them, show them what your priorities are and discuss how they can service them in comparison with their priorities especially in a disruption.

8. NetworkProvide intelligence on the market. What are your competitors doing? Who is doing what regarding BCM? What is the regulators position on BCM? Who had a near miss or disaster and how can we protect ourselves from it?

9. Be proactiveDo the things you might be asked for in advance, i.e. before you are asked. Think about your boss’s boss, what issues are they facing and how can you help at a more strategic level. Revisit the vision and values and see how intent can be delivered by BCM.

10. Analysis paralysisIn the golden hour of crisis management we urge rapid decision making to move at the speed of the crisis not the speed of the organisation (Credit as ever to Peter Power). It is better to do something now than wait and do nothing.

BCM for Darwinians – Survival of the fittestThere are many techniques for dealing with the credit crunch, some are even prescribed or regulated such as capital adequacy, insurance, increase revenue, cut costs even bankruptcy. BCM will survive after all what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.

Will the recession alter BCM either positively or negatively forever? I don’t think so, events never have before; we just hope they might, and get ourselves all animated because of the press coverage.

But can we make a difference to the challenges our organisations face today? Of course we can. We must, survival depends on it. We need to demonstrate competency in our organisations. We must be clear and concise. We must show samples and examples of what BCM is, to point to a destination of where we are trying to get to, before we start the journey.

But saying, “I told you so” is not helpful. Those of us who don’t make a difference are likely to be perceived as part of the problem and will become casualties. How many times have we picked up a BC Plan from years ago – Started but never finished. No executive support by policy or ownership. Poor quality. Done in isolation. Never rehearsed.

These are tough times. So gird your BCM loins, take a deep breath, and think about what you need to do to make that difference… AND GO AND DO IT.

"SAVE MONEY" top 10 tips

1. Training can be expensive. Utilise the BCI network of experts, forums and mentors. Ask any questions you like, the answers are free. Be careful about confidentiality and compare a number of opinions before you customise them for your own organisation. Exercise some caution, you can get theory which doesn't work in practice.

2. Hotlines are an excellent means to communicate to many in a crisis. If you are on a budget buy a pay as you go sim card, record your message on voicemail then switch the phone off - hey presto a staff information hotline on the cheap.

3. Use software to mechanise reports, maintenance prompts and questionnaires to save time but beware of the costs, implementation for data hungry applications and the hidden costs of training time.

4. Do you need to buy or just hire? If it is a resource you might only need occasionally a hire contract or even a share with another owner might be possible. If you have the resource already, think of hiring it out to generate revenue and reduce the running costs.

5. DR WAR options consider dedicated, syndicated and in-house options. If you are in the public sector check out Community Resilience who will provide accommodation for free anywhere in the UK. 6. Second Hand is invariably cheaper than brand new. These are tough times and forms are selling off all sorts of equipment that can reduce you budget if second hand is acceptable. If in doubt take it for a test before committing to the purchase.

7. Gather your own neighbourly syndicate together and share the purchase of local products and services. All of your neighbours may be submitting a business case for standby generators which will be refused but sharing the cost of hired generator may be cost effective.

8. Shop around and negotiate. Get a feel for the values at stake and market pricing. Watch out for bidding wars between vendors and if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

9. Reciprocal deals are free and can work. Carefully select your potential partner, make sure you have equality in need and offer, get the agreement in writing to avoid misunderstandings later. Rehearse the arrangement.

10. Early adopters, reference sites for new products, customer testimonials all have a value to your vendor and so you may be able to convert that value for them to a discount for you.

Andy Tomkinson MBCI
Partner Adtapt

+44 (0) 1253 788181

Adtapt - www.adtapt.com
Battle Box - www.battlebox.biz

This article appeared in the March/April Edition of "Continuity Magazine" - www.thebci.org

Emerging Markets, Threats and the Business Community Response

More and more companies are investing in emerging markets where there are significant opportunities for rewards. Yet world events of and since 11 Sept 2001 have provided a constant reminder that these rewards can come at a price - whether at home or abroad.

The risks to staff working in emerging markets are not limited to terrorism. Indeed, it is important not to exaggerate the extent to which this crime is a problem. Staff face a spectrum of security risks from kidnapping, extortion and violent attack to petty street crime and health problems. The risks are caused by political instability, state failings, weak infrastructure, social tension, mass inequalities, under-development and the inadequacy and even absence of the rule of law. In the light of the ongoing conflicts around the world it is clear the organisations wishing to operate overseas may find themselves more susceptible to problems.

It is therefore alarming that the response of the business community has been patchy. Despite the increased awareness of potential threats by many there is still a large percentage of the business community that is doing little or nothing. Surveys suggest less than half of businesses had Business Continuity plans in place and even less are estimated to actually train their staff.

This lack of activity puts lives at risk and it’s happening for three reasons: a legal vacuum around issues of corporate personal security overseas; the lack of a convincing business case to support additional resources to protect personnel; and finally a lack of publically available information - as opposed to commercial information sold by security companies.

A major push to increase the amount of information available in the public domain and to ensure details are collated from companies and governments to give a better understanding of the impact of security threats on companies and their staff around the world will help to build a stronger business case for companies operating in emerging markets.

David Mackay touches on the subject of information sharing between private and public sectors in his article "Joint Operation", as seen in the June 2008 edition of INTERSEC, a publication of Defence International Group.