The British Bankers Association held its annual Business Continuity Conference at their offices in London yesterday. It was quite disappointing to see a much lower turnout this year than last. Perhaps the banks are still being cautious about spending money on trips out of the office, despite the positive noises the industry is making that things are ‘on-the-up’.
There were a number of speakers throughout the day with reports on:
– The Tripartite run excersises
– The threat of cyber attacks – KPMG
– The swine flu pandemic update from the Cabinet Office
– How the City of London police managed the G20 protests
– The plans for the Olympics from a transport point of view and of course a presentation by our man Graham Chick on how flexible working is the only true way of coping with a disruptive event.
My overall impression of the event was that though the talks, particulalry on the Olympics and the G20 protests, were very interesting, the presentations didn’t offer anything too ground breakingly new. However what was encouraging was the number of people who could see the benefit of a rapid notification product to be used at the beginning of a disruptive event to communicate to employees simultaneously advising them what to do. The penny does seem to be dropping that telecoms continuity is a neglected area and needs addressing which is really encouraging to see.
It was interesting to see the plans the Olympic commitee are making to keep transport moving during the Games especially as I’m sure this will have a big impact on organisations in the London area. A dedicated ORN (Olymoic Route Network) will be instated inlcuding some dedicated ‘Olympic lanes’ on certain roads. Also encouaging is that road works will be managed such that there will be no roadworks wherever possible in central London during the Games.
A presentation from Standard Chartered picked out some very interesting lessons from their flu pandemic planning, including advice for multinational organisations to consider the actions of foreign governments and how they deal with infection. He quoted the hotels in China which the government there quarantined for 7 days and how offices, hotels and areoplanes can all be subject to containment if just 1 case of flu is diagnosed. The knock on effects this can have on organisations’ regional offices could be major.
If you were at the event what did you make of it, was there anything valuable or interesting which you can use in your organisation? Would love to hear your feedback and also what you would want to hear about next year.
Tags: British Bankers Association, business continuity, flexible working, pandemic flu guidelines for business, rapid notification
