Building Security and Survivability

In addition to your employees and tenants, servers and software, your procedures and processes, you have to be concerned with the security and survival of your facility as much as possible, because your facility encases everything that’s important to the continuity of your operations. Take a look through this week’s articles for some tips on how to improve your building security and survivability.

Have you done what you can do at all of your facilities to improve your chances for uninterrupted operations? (Item #1) An audit is conducted to evaluate compliance with specific, measurable criteria. (Item #2) Is Your Company Prepared Should a Disaster Strike? Will You Be Action or Reaction Oriented? (Item #3)

Traditional evacuation plans developed to meet the threat of fire are no longer sufficient in work environments where there is a threat, however small, of a terrorist attack. (Item #4) Inside every office building, factory, warehouse or other work area, someone is in charge of managing the environment where you work and ensuring that the building is safe.(Item #5) An access control security system allows building management professionals to do more than just control admission to restricted areas. (Item #6)


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Testing Your Business Continuity Plan

Training and testing are the keys to the success of any continuity or disaster recovery plan. A plan simply can’t be relied on to work properly unless it has been tested before it is actually implemented during an emergency. Practicing emergency response helps ensure that the plan will work as expected in an actual emergency. In addition, exercising the plan can reveal problems or weaknesses in the plan and identify need changes. This week’s articles offer ideas about testing and exercising your plan.

What is required to ensure that an exercise is effective? (Item #1) The development and implementation of the functional exercise program will help ensure you’re ready when the next disaster strikes. (Item #2) Are you testing all of your plan at least some of the time? (Item #3)

Just how ready is your disaster recovery plan? (Item #4) In the event of a disaster, a backup provider should be able to restore all data within 48 hours. (Item #5) Business continuity plans should be tested and updated regularly to ensure that they are up to date and effective. (Item #6)


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Social Media and Business Continuity

Social media offers opportunities -- and threats – with regard to business continuity. Many companies are integrating social media into their business continuity plans, but others are reluctant to jump on the bandwagon. Clearly, social media is becoming an important part of our society, so it’s important to take a look at it, learn about it, and determine if it can work for you. This week’s items may throw some light on the subject and help you determine if you should consider it as a tool for your organization.

The full power of social media comes perhaps best to light in times of disaster, when up-to-date and current information is crucial to get out to as many as possible as soon as possible. (Item #1) Social media are the greatest gift to crisis management and business continuity planning that has ever been invented. (Item #2) To keep yourself and your business out of the courtroom, brush up on the new rules and regulations, remain vigilant and act responsibly. (Item #3)

Social media has significantly changed how many companies communicate with their customers, employees and vendors – so it might be time to reflect that shift in your crisis communications plans. (Item #4) Used together, social media tools can help you build a truly amazing social media campaign for brand building or reputation management. (Item #5) Finally, there are those who think social media is not ready for prime time. (Item #6)


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Crisis Communications

There is one critical thing to remember about a crisis: It CAN happen here! And, if it happens, you need to have steps in place to respond to it and keep your organization going. There are three major steps in responding to a crisis: 1) gather all the information you can about the crisis and double check it; 2) communicate what is happening to all stakeholders (don’t forget employees); and 3) monitor media and online stories to make sure information is correct; if it isn’t, do what you can to correct it. This week’s articles can help you prepare a crisis response plan and to figure out what role social media can have in that plan.

This sample Crisis Communication Plan can help you draft yours. (Item #1) It's how you handle a crisis with the media that will likely determine whether that crisis builds or seriously damages your company.(Item #2) Good news travels fast online, but bad news travels faster. (Item #3)

Can there be a balance between a business's need for quality formal communications in a crisis situation -- and the personal, informal nature of blogging? (Item #4) When should a company use social networking or resume its social networking activities post-crisis? (Item #5) What can you learn from the John Edwards scandal? (Item #6)


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