In my concluding blog summarising the results of Marsh’s recently published Business Continuity benchmark report, it struck me that half of those companies surveyed had experienced an incident leading to loss of business. Read the rest of this entry »
Business Continuity Survey Part 2: 49% of Respondents Have Had An Incident in The Last 2 Years
September 3rd, 2010Business Continuity Survey Part 1: 86% Say BCM is Aligned to Strategic Business Objectives
September 1st, 201086% of respondents to the 2010 EMEA business continuity benchmark report produced by MARSH, said that their Buiness Continuity Management is aligned to their strategic business objectives. This demonstrates an increase of 7% since the last report published in 2008.
The first points I have picked from the survey in part 1 of my blog on the survey results show an increasing priority and acceptance from senior management that Business Continuity Management is key to supply chain sustainability and should be integrated into strategic business objectives. Read the rest of this entry »
No comms? No problem?
August 31st, 2010If your office has no communications, how would you continue working?
Aim for 100% continuity
When considering implementing a telecoms business continuity solution you should aim to ensure that the service you provide to your customers and suppliers is as close to normality as possible. By achieving this you minimise any negative effects of the disruption. Yet many businesses are settling for second best rather than 100% continuity. Read the rest of this entry »
Finance Sector Employees Want Flexible working
August 11th, 2010According to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers almost half of respondents listed flexible working as a key incentive, eclipsing performance related bonuses which only one fifth of those surveyed listed.
Michael Rendell, HR services leader at PwC, said financial firms that are able to accommodate flexible working will enjoy better levels of staff morale.
It is also widely accepted that those organisations may also be in a better position to retain the most talented employees.
Modern lives are so full with work, commuting, pressure and home/ family responsibilities that people often feel that their lives are being dictated for them and that they have little control over their time. Being able to work flexibly gives people back that control which in turn leads to more productive and balanced lives.
For the financial sector, working from home or other location has sometimes been seen as too risky, where private information may get leaked. But I would argue that this risk can easily be mitigated with processes and technology.
Security measures to protect laptops should be in force whether the employee is based at home or in the office, and voice recording of calls, whether by mobile or landline, can be the norm wherever an employee is located.
The number of job roles which can be performed away from the traditional office building is ever increasing, and this should be the case for the financial sector as well.
Swine Flu Pandemic Declared Officially Over
August 10th, 2010The World Health Organisation’s Director General, Dr Margaret Chan said that the H1N1 virus had “largely run its course” as it appears we are moving into the post pandemic phase. Many countries have scaled back their measures of vaccination and precautions as the effects of the virus and the number of cases continues to dwindle. Read the rest of this entry »
Warn and Inform: How do you contact all your employees at the same time?
August 9th, 2010In a society where people are increasingly working more flexibly and remotely, keeping in contact is more important than ever. But how do you communicate with all those people at the same time? Read the rest of this entry »
Business Continuity: Technology and Processes Must Go Hand in Hand
August 6th, 2010Having a process in place to enable your employees to work from home or remote location when they cannot get into their office goes a long way to ensuring that your business can continue to operate under adverse conditions. But these plans become useless when the technology is insufficient to support the process. Read the rest of this entry »
Homeworking: Changing Attitudes?
August 4th, 2010The biggest barrier to managers allowing their team members to work from home some or all of the week is still their attitude. Being able to see their staff sitting in front of a computer somehow fills them with confidence that they are working 110%. However in my own experience the weekly or daily audio conference call still has the power to bring people to account for the work they have been doing, perhaps even more so when they are on the same call as their collegaues and peers. Read the rest of this entry »
National Flood Framework: Government decides to throw money at flooding….assesments
July 30th, 2010On the same day that the National Flood Emergency Framework for England is published, the government has announced that it will be funding local authorities to carry out flooding risk assesments. A pot of £2m has been allocated for helping with the risk assesments along with a £1m draft strategy for improving skills in flood risk management.
However what appears to be lacking is any hint of money for flood defences, flood avoidance technology or business continuity and disaster recovery measures. But hey at least when a flood occurs we can see on a piece of paper that the town was at risk! Read the rest of this entry »
Remote Working: Technology can only save your business money if used in the right way
July 28th, 2010Forget second life technology as a cost saving tool, remote working is still the best way to provide cost savings and great customer service.
As you may have read recently, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council spent £36,000 on a virtual town hall in the online portal known as second life. I admire their forward thinking approach to using technology in a bid to provide an attractive customer service which can also cost cuts, however organisations must do their return on investment studies before jumping head first into the latest trend. Read the rest of this entry »
