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. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Business Continuity Survey Part 2: 49% of Respondents Have Had An Incident in The Last 2 Years
Friday, September 3rd, 2010Business Continuity Survey Part 1: 86% Say BCM is Aligned to Strategic Business Objectives
Wednesday, 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. (more…)
No comms? No problem?
Tuesday, 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. (more…)
Warn and Inform: How do you contact all your employees at the same time?
Monday, 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? (more…)
Business Continuity: Technology and Processes Must Go Hand in Hand
Friday, 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. (more…)
Homeworking: Changing Attitudes?
Wednesday, 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. (more…)
Remote Working: Technology can only save your business money if used in the right way
Wednesday, 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. (more…)
BT clamps down on copper cable thieves
Monday, July 26th, 2010Copper cabling theft has risen by 9% in the last year as BT spends millions to replace local telecoms circuits. (more…)
Podcast To Prevent Flood damage? Council Passing The Buck?
Friday, July 23rd, 2010Flood risk management is being passed to the residents of villages in Gloucestershire via a podcast. What will be next? Residents becoming members of the Emergency Planning Society?
Gloucestershire County Council has produced a 7 minute audio podcast which gives a step-by-step guide to villagers living in isolated areas which are at a high risk of experiencing flooding. The podcast offers advice as to how to form an action committee, complete an emergency management plan and organise real-life exercises.
Now I am all for not relying on the council and emergency planners completely, and for communities to take responsibility for managing an immediate response to any kind of local disaster, but really, shouldn’t the council planners be also explaining/ improving/ expanding their role in these situations? It does feel like the responsibility is being placed on residents rather than authorities.
One particular resident, aged 77, pointed out that in the 1950s the rivers were dredged all the time to prevent flooding. I’d be interested to know why this is not happening now if it worked then? Surely flood prevention should take the bulk of the council’s investment rather than producing multimedia soundbytes which more elderly residents may not know how, or be able to access anyway?
Councillor Will Windsor-Clive is quoted as saying, “The idea behind these community resilience plans is not for communities to carry out the role of any of the emergency services.” That may be true but what of the responsibilities of the council’s numerous emergency planners? Surely this following list should be completed by them rather than the residents, so that they can understand the issues within these communities firsthand?
Identify the risks to the community and relevant response actions
Identify vulnerable people / groups in the community
Identify resources in the community available to assist during an emergency
Provide key contact details for the Community Response Team, Key Community Resources, the Emergency Services and Local Authorities
It seems to me that the council are passing the buck to the residents rather than the people we pay our taxes to do this for us! I’d love to hear your views…
If you are an emergency planner in Gloucestershire perhaps you’d like to argue your case? Let’s get a Friday debate going…
Telecoms Resilience: Keeping Going, Not Just Recovery
Monday, July 19th, 2010Do the majority of people understand that telecoms resilience is about keeping a company’s communication channels always open, rather than simply trying to recover them when it all goes wrong? (more…)
