BCM / DR Programs: Executive Buy-In Doesn’t Always Mean Support

First of all, apologies for the delay in posting something new; I’ve been enjoying the beaches of Australia and New Zealand for 3.5 weeks. :)  Anyway, to the blog for today…

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Well, it’s time to work on the Business Continuity Management (BCM) / Disaster Recovery (DR) program based on the maintenance schedule. You’ve got your plan all well laid out and people know it’s coming and are ready to participate…sometimes begrudgingly. Yet, for some reason your well-thought out plan isn’t going to plan at all.

Business Impact Analysis (BIA): It’s Never Right the First Time!!

If you’ve been working in the Business Continuity Management (BCM) or Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) industry for some time you’ve probably been through a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) project; either from the very first initiation or through a maintenance phase. And if you’re honest with yourself, it probably didn’t go as well as you would have liked.

BCM & DR Communications: Telling Only Half the Story.

This last week has been quite the week for pedestrian and vehicle collisions and accidents. We even had a few people die this week due to such incidents. Yes, I feel for the friends and families of those that have been impacted yet, what struck me most about each situation, was the communication messages being conveyed.

IT’s easy to blame one side of the situation and in many cases that might be reality. But just like in BCM and DR, we must convey a message that everyone can understand. The communications have to be straight to it and yet be articulate enough for people of any walk of life to understand the message – and have it retained. They can’t just be to one side of the situation. Here’s what I mean.

Immediately after the first accident the police and responding Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel were placing the blame for the traffic incidents on the shoulders of those driving; there was no responsibility placed on the side of the pedestrian. I found this odd because it was clean in some of the situations that the pedestrian wasn’t following the rules set out for them and the reminder about the rules wasn’t coming from the police of EMS; it was only directed at the vehicle operators.

We’re pleased to announce the new book by StoneRoad founder, A. Alex Fullick, is now available: “Testing Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plans: How to Plan and Execute Successful Tests”.  It comes on the heals of his successful book “Business Impact Analysis”. Like all of Mr. Fullick’s books, they are all based on real-world hands-on experiences taken from nearly 20 years in the BCM/DR industry.  Get your copy at amazon.com  or at our own shop on stone-road.com. Read the full press release below! Regards, The StoneRoad Team **************************************************

BCM & DR: Do We Hide Behind Technology?

If you’re like me, you gets lots of emails concerning Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery and Emergency Response advertisements. I even see lots of adverts in the industry journals and magazine’s; all of which say that the product they’re selling will help you with this problem or that problem. Many even say that with their product you’ll be able to communicate better. I’m not so sure about that last part.

What’s the Fuss About Ebola Self Quarantine?

I don’t get the fuss over wanting people to self-quarantine themselves if they’ve been to, come from or passed through any area that has or has the potential to have, Ebola-like cases. What’s the big deal?

I recall when SARS was seemingly running rampant back about 10 years ago (give or take) that one of the instructions was that if you were in contact with – or could have come in contact with – anyone who may have SARS-like symptoms to stay home for a few days to monitor yourself. You even had to call into a hotline and report yourself.

Canadian Disaster and Emergency Planning Changes Forever – Today (October 22, 2014)

Something was bound to happen eventually.  Isn’t that what disaster planning all about; prepare for the unplanned events that can throw things in chaos?   After years of never experiencing any sort of terrorist actions, today that changed in Ottawa, Canada.   Terrorists, which is what they attackers are being called at the moment, shot and killed a RCMP officer guarding the Canadian War Memorial and stormed the Parliament building, where Members of Parliament were actually on site.  On Monday – Oct 20/14 – a radical ran down two Canadian soldiers in uniform; one later dying in hospital.