As Anne mentioned in part one of this blog series, I have been involved in business continuity for more than 25 years. Over that time, the principles have remained remarkably consistent: understand what matters, prepare properly, and make sure the organisation is ready to respond when something unexpected happens.
I am writing this on the day before the anniversary of 9/11, which always takes me back to where I was that day. I remember watching the events in New York unfold and thinking how easily something so significant could affect London or any other major city. In the years around that time, I was Vice-Chair and then Chair of the British Quality Foundation’s Business Continuity networking group. Each year, we ran a scenario-based exercise, with up to 70 people from a wide range of organisations taking part. We created a fictional company and then put it through a series of realistic challenges that would have tested even a very mature organisation.
One memorable exercise took place in the conference auditorium of a major UK company. In our scenario, the fictional organisation’s production site had been surrounded by flood water. During a break, I walked into reception and saw a live news report on the television showing a real factory, also surrounded by flood water. We asked for the feed to be shown in the auditorium, and the delegates assumed it was part of the exercise until we explained that it was actually happening in real time.
That experience has stayed with me because it neatly captures the issue. In today’s world, the attitude of “it will never happen to us” is simply not good enough. Too often, when a business is already in serious difficulty, the senior team is saying, “We didn’t expect that to happen.” By then, of course, it is usually too late.
Being prepared, and regularly testing and exercising your response to a range of scenarios, is the best way to get ahead of events. It may not stop an incident from happening, but the way you respond, and the speed with which you recover, will make a significant difference to the resilience of your organisation. Testing also has a habit of exposing weaknesses before they become real problems. I always remember the organisation that was confident it could operate independently if the electricity grid failed because it had a generator with enough fuel to last for weeks. Unfortunately, when the power cut happened during a cold winter, the generator would not start because the fuel was a summer blend and had thickened in the low temperatures.
With so many threats and risks, both global and local, business continuity planning is no longer optional. Whatever the size or nature of your organisation, building resilience into your processes and systems is essential. Understanding the potential impact on your customers, your people, and your suppliers will help you prepare for disruption and respond effectively when it matters most.
By Graham Hull
