Why “Chicken Little” and “Black Swan” Planning is NOT the Way to Respond to Recent Catastrophic Events

It seems that every week, there’s a story in the news about a catastrophic disaster happening somewhere in the world.  The last five to ten years have seen what appears to be unprecedented numbers of global natural disasters, leaving some to wonder if the whole 2012 end of days conspiracy theorists are perhaps onto something.  While it might seem like the world is ending, overacting to these events or trying to plan for every worst case scenario is not productive and could DAMAGE your business continuity program.  This article will discuss why focusing on these types of outlier events do not generate value or management interest, as well as discuss ways you CAN tweak your risk assessment and planning to ultimately gain more value without trying to tackle impossible planning standards. Continue reading →

This two-part series from Avalution Consulting focuses on defining and embedding a “culture of continuity” within organizations.

PART II: IMPLEMENTING A CULTURE OF CONTINUITY

In part one of this series we defined a culture of continuity as “an organizational state of being in which all personnel inherently work to minimize the likelihood of downtime and improve responsiveness and recoverability as they perform day-to-day activities”.  That’s a pretty high bar for most organizations to meet! 

As such, it’s important to take a moment to truly assess the need for such an undertaking and the true value that it will add to your organization.  Much like any other initiative throughout an organization, it’s important for business continuity efforts to directly align to key organizational objectives, goals and priorities.  In doing so, you’ll be better prepared to gain buy-in and commitment from senior leadership as you will be working to add value to the entire organization, not just push a business continuity “agenda”. Continue reading →

This two-part series from Avalution Consulting focuses on defining and embedding a “culture of continuity” within organizations.

PART I: DEFINING A CULTURE OF CONTINUITY

“Culture of continuity”…it sounds beautiful, doesn’t it?  It flows off the tongue so naturally as we describe the quintessential business continuity program – a program embedded into an organization so well that personnel fully commit to business continuity and consider it in every decision they make.  An environment where executive management considers the organization’s ability to recover from disruption during strategic planning discussions, and thinks about minimizing downtime and maximizing recovery during project development (as opposed to after-the-fact implementations).  But, what does that phrase really mean?  In part one of this series, we’ll define “culture of continuity” and dive into its importance and fit into every organization. Continue reading →

Many business continuity professionals face shrinking budgets and, because of an expanding business continuity program scope and aggressive recovery objectives, lack the time necessary to “touch” all areas of the organization and optimally prepare for disruptive events.  As a result, practitioners need a way to create repeatable processes to execute recurring planning activities in a decentralized manner while making efficient use of the organization’s personnel to comply with management’s expectations.  One approach we often find useful in rolling out a standardized, thorough, efficient and repeatable process for business continuity activities is the creation of a business continuity program toolkit.  A business continuity toolkit typically contains a set of instructional narratives, as well as templates, tools and examples to help dispersed personnel appropriately execute business continuity planning activities consistent with organizational standards. Continue reading →