Ask the EAB - May/Jun 2010

 

1. In a very short period of time, you will get a snapshot of what the industry leaders in major organizations are doing with their programs. You will learn many tricks of the trade—as well as what doesn’t work so well—that most companies wouldn’t share other than in a setting like this. The case studies at the breakout sessions provide an opportunity to hear how other organizations have built successful programs and the challenges they have faced. Plus, most of the speakers are more than happy to provide additional guidance after their sessions to those who have attended and request it. If there are issues you and your leaders are dealing with, you most likely will get some direction or answers to bring back to your company.

 

2. You will learn the current and upcoming trends in technology and business strategies such as building redundant data centers, using traditional hot sites, where the BC program reports in different organizations, etc. This will afford you the opportunity to return to your organization with that one bit of information that could improve your program.

 

3. Return on investment (ROI) and metrics are becoming more and more necessary for disaster recovery and business continuity planning programs. Several sessions specifically addressed how their organizations are building ROI and metrics to justify their programs and obtain additional funding for much-needed growth initiatives. Most of us can benefit from this.

 

4. You will be able to see what different standards and regulations mean to different organizations and industries. It is always interesting to sit at a table of industry professionals to learn that one company reacts one way to standard or regulation and another company has reacted to the standard or regulation far differently. This type of conversation broadens your knowledge so effectively that you will return to your company with a totally different outlook on how you can translate mandated regulations and standards for your organization.

 

In summary, you will definitely walk away feeling that you are not alone in your challenges. You will get to share stories with people from organizations that you probably think have the “perfect” program, only to learn that your program has strengths that others don’t. I find the Continuity Insights Conference a real boost in my motivation and ability to improve my program. My goal is to return from a Continuity Insights Conference with at least one tidbit of information that I can use to improve our company’s program, and so far, I have not been disappointed.

 

I was very pleased with the content of the sessions I attended, and also the quality and level of the attendees. I especially noted the number of sessions that were related to metrics, measurement and the maturity of continuity programs.

 

As professionals in this field, we must constantly look for ways to show the value of our programs and also to ensure we are using financial and personnel resources as effectively as possible. Quality measurement and reporting systems are invaluable in that effort.

 

As we say at Fusion, “Vulnerabilities and threats are endless, but the funds to address them are not.”

 

I really appreciated the number of sessions that addressed something other than what to do if the building burns down or the data center is hit by a hurricane. The continuity field has been steadily moving toward enterprise resilience over the past three years and that showed up in this year’s conference program. One of the big things I plan to do is be a little more aggressive in helping my clients dig deeper to build the kinds of coalitions they need to sustain this kind of enterprise focus. 

 

There are a number of things that I took away from the Continuity Insights Management Conference that I can incorporate into our business continuity program. Information I obtained from benchmarking strategies to supply chain management is relevant and applicable to our program. Most of the sessions were insightful and pertinent to the program that I lead.

 

Overwhelmingly though, the best take away for me was the opportunity to network with such an esteemed group of business continuity and disaster recovery professionals. These people are in the middle of a changing and emerging profession and are looked to as thought leaders. There was so much insight provided either in casual conversation or in one of the excellent educational sessions. The opportunity to attend the conference and take part in the sessions was extraordinary.

 

Many thanks to the hard-working and dedicated staff, presenters and attendees for a memorable conference, and I look forward to Atlanta next year. This conference promises to be as good or better—if that is possible.

 

New Orleans is back! If not 100% commercially back, surely in spirit. The people, venues and music are thriving. Maybe the Saints’ Super Bowl victory was contagious and instilled a renewed winning spirit. On the business continuity front, visibility into and management of supply chain risk was a key theme. Some interesting insights and approaches were presented with robust discussion and debate. This is definitely a hot topic now and well into the future. Also, the broader discussion of business resilience and enterprise risk management continue to be topics of interest. The vendor trade show and collection of speakers was deep with expertise and talent. Overall a great conference! 

 

Having sat in or participated in a number of break-out sessions at this year’s conference, I heard a near-constant theme emerge. Conference attendees were searching for new and creative ways to add value for their organizations. I heard various attendees challenge presenters regarding how their recommended courses of action added organizational value, or the role of a business continuity practitioner in areas outside of the normal, traditional boundaries of business continuity (e.g., data breach incident response planning). I heard (or had) conversations with participants asking how to become better connected to their organizations and thus become more effective at building strategies to protect organizational value. Overall, I was impressed with comments challenging the status quo, and I suspect business continuity leaders and practitioners returned to their organizations with renewed energy and creative ideas to apply immediately.

 

There are a lot of acronyms! Having a military background I thought I would never be affected by the acronym monster, but I was wrong. The BC/DR/Risk management fields all use a plethora of acronyms. I took away a level of ignorance that needs to be filled through continual engagement with those in the field. I also learned that there are many dedicated professionals in the BC world. How will I apply this information? I push business continuity in my community, so I will continue to stress the importance of planning and preparing for disasters or interruptions in business, and I will encourage local businesses to subscribe to CI for more great information. The most important thing I learned is that the Sheraton charges $10 to use the gym.

 

Since I’ve been part of CI the past 2 years and unable to attend the conference until last week, this was a much anticipated and meaningful experience for me. I’d like to share what I’ve already told various members of our BC teams with your readers.

 

The entire event was very well organized, speakers I heard relayed pertinent and impactful messages and the overall timing and venue were good.

 

There is progress made in New Orleans and surrounding areas since 2005, but you would have expected much more over a five-year time period. The bus tour on Sunday was quite somber and revealed that politics and lack of cohesive planning still dominate effectiveness of recovery.

 

The plenary session on Katrina was very interesting. My suggestion to have the panel members approach Mayor Nagen and local government is a solid one. Talk about the benefits of business continuity and planning for business and people, since another major hurricane will affect them when they least expect it, again.

 

The plenary panel’s comments on effectiveness of surgical masks and being as good as N95’s is a big deal. If substantiated, this has major cost benefits in pandemic planning and a variety of other incident planning initiatives.

 

Rating progress on BC planning was a topic many were interested in, with multiple presentations on the topic. I shared insight on Goodyear’s “Business Continuity Excellence” process and there were many attendees, asking great questions, leading me to believe this is a hot topic.

 

Incident mass notification vendors were everywhere, as has been the case for the past few years. Ways to communicate accurately and time effectively are of great interest. This is something that should be in every BC team’s toolbox.

 

CI treats vendors as our partners, which does not seem to be the case at all conferences. By having them join us for meals, conduct presentations and network with the attendees, it seemed less like “customer-vendor relations” and more like forming real partnerships.

 

ROI is a topic that is on everyone’s agenda as well. “If you can measure it and quantify it, you can improve it and show business value” seemed to be a theme.

 

The PS-Prep/Title IX topic is also still being discussed. Because I am on the NFPA 1600 Technical Committee, ANAB Committee reviewing it, and certified as MBCP by DRI International, I see the value of having an effective BC process throughout your organization, regardless of what the government suggests or mandates. We should work together to recognize the value of all standards and not get involved in “my standard is better than your standard” discussions being led by a couple groups.

 

The Creole Queen Mississippi Riverboat was fun and thanks to MIR3 for sponsoring it. My Hurricane name was “Bob.” I went upstairs to where the band was and asked the lead singer to call all “Bobs” to the area. When only one showed up, I decided to stay very close to the bar, strictly to see if there were any other Bob’s stopping by.

 

Finally, if you are asked to go to the Fountain Room, you may wonder where the elevator and carpeted floors are taking you, but you will be quite pleased with the company and the meat loaf with mac and cheese on the menu!

 

One thing I particularly liked this year were case studies of how organizations dealt with actual problems. A presentation on the small-but-novel event of a German Measles outbreak at an international site of a major media company was fascinating for many reasons: because the disease is endemic in Europe and unusual here (so why is this a crisis?), because the rules that apply to expats and national hires are different (HIPPA, etc), and because the response of the local U. S. staff was “ho-hum,” while corporate headquarters tried to respond aggressively. 

 

A second focus, at least in my head, was of the “web of connectivity” between the public, private, and non-profit sectors. In the first session of the conference, one Louisiana business owner outlined how one of their locations was in a parish where government was broken, one location was in a parish where the government was somewhat responsive, and one location was in a parish where the government was very proactive in working to get “the cash registers ringing” (which is one of my “trademark” goals for emergency management). Guess where he was going to open his next store?

 

How will I apply this? Well, I’m convinced that emergency management needs to be hit on the head a few more times before they realize that nobody really cares if government is functioning—people care if the supermarket is open. Perhaps if those of us in business continuity can start beating the drum that their fancy emergency operation centers with endless desks of government officials should be replaced with a giant diagram of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs with a giant, magnetic red arrow. Start with the arrow at the bottom and work your way up, but the bottom row—the basics—all come from the private sector (except for the sex, except in Nevada...). CI