Facility Concerns

Within every organization and/or facility, someone is in charge of the safety and security of the people and the facility. In large organizations, this might be the facility manager; in smaller organizations, this task probably falls to someone else, possibly whoever is responsible for business continuity. Information in this week's articles could be very helpful to whoever has this responsibility; consider passing them on.

The single most important issue is to protect the security and safety of building occupants. (Item #1) Did you ever think of your outside smoking area as a security risk? (Item #2) If your building suffers a disruption, it's important to morale to get things back to normal as soon as possible. (Item #3)

Emergency evacuation procedures are focused on the safety of the people, not the facility. (Item #4) One of the most important – perhaps even the most important – tools of the facility manager is a method of communicating with everyone in the building. (Item #5) If you're building a data center, it's better to build in some security measures rather than adding them later. (Item #6)


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BCP Testing and Training

You can't count on your business continuity plan until you've tested it. Completing the plan is just the beginning – the testing is the critical next step, along with training your employees and ensuring that everyone knows what they're supposed to do when and how. Read this week's articles to learn more about how to test your plan.

Once tested, your plan adds security and value to your organization. (Item #1) The benefits of testing far outweigh any costs. (Item #2) You can learn from the successes and failures of others how to ensure your plan works. (Item #3)

The effectiveness of an exercise is directly related to the planning beforehand. (Item #4) Just how do you come up scenarios for your test? And what about plot lines? (Item #5) If you don't want the next disaster to test your plan, you'd better test it first. (Item #6)


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Social Media and Business Continuity

More organizations today have instituted social media usage policies and many have Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and blogs. Their business continuity plans, however, don't usually contain social media strategies. It seems that the time is ripe to update those plans to reflect the usage of these social media tools in your plans. This week's articles can help point out how to use social media as disaster response and recovery tools.

If you're one of the many who have questions about social media, here are some answers for you. (Item #1) Read how Facebook, text messages, and telehealth technologies play a role in emergency response. (Item #2) Today's technologically savvy employees  are connected through social media… you can take advantage of this in your BC plans. (Item #3)

Is social media the new crisis response tool? (Item #4) Don't be caught on the sidelines of the social media movement; put these tools to work for you. (Item #5) What's the point of Twitter in a business context? (Item #6)


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Crisis Communications

Regardless of what you might believe, there IS a crisis in your future... maybe next week or next year or even five years from now... but it's lurking there. The only real uncertainty is whether you'll be ready for it. Will you handle it on the fly? We hope not... and we've selected this week's articles to help you plan for the crisis in your future.

This list of do's and don't's can help you stay ahead of dealing with a crisis and handling it in the best possible way. (Item #1) The basic steps of crisis communications are not difficult, but you do have to be prepared in order to minimize damage. (Item #2) In today's social media climate, the mainstream media is not always as careful as it should be in the rush to be first with the news; how can you cope? (Item #3)

Like it or lump it, Twitter has become a key tool in crisis management; better learn to manage it. (Item #4) Businesses, brands, and organizations, we'll say it again: Get your crisis comms plan ready. (Item #5) What can we learn from the tech companies that made business mistakes and didn't address them immediately? (Item #6)

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