A crisis is any event that can destroy or incapacitate an organization—private, non-profit or government. To take it one step further, an event is still a crisis if it interferes with its daily operations so much that it threatens the organization’s survival. A good business continuity management program is the first step in avoiding business crises no matter what your company’s size. In fact, small businesses may well be more vulnerable to a severe disruption or failure than a large one.

 

Crises can be manifested in a number of ways, from natural disasters to man-made ones. But most organizations mistakenly confuse business continuity with “disaster recovery,” which is almost always related to the plans and procedures required to return information technology (IT) systems back to normalcy after a “crash” or a similar event.

 

Indeed, IT disaster recovery plans are extremely important—and a part of our services—especially since modern organizations are going paperless and depend more heavily on IT every day. For that reason alone, a complete business continuity plan (BCP)—or a continuity of operations plan (COOP)—will include a robust IT disaster recovery section. But businesses are affected by many types of threats other than IT failures, such as: 

 

   > the destructive forces of natural disasters,

   > industrial disasters and serious accidents,

   > health-based crises,

   > critical equipment and production breaks,

   > image and reputation injuries (that can easily turn off clients and tumble revenues),

   > human resource issues,

   > criminal attacks,

   > proprietary information losses (that can be devastating to single-technology companies),

   > strikes and boycotts, and

   > regulatory and legal challenges.

 

These and other risks are what a continuity plan considers and prepares for. And Inquesta uses its own Risk Insights and Solutions Cycle (RISC)™ system to help businesses carefully prepare for crises, and then to avert them, or at least to mitigate their effects. On the preventive side, our system first identifies and evaluates the particular threats that face your organization, and formulates strategies to prevent or mitigate them. On the remedial side of the program, the RISC system includes a well-conceived response plan because the worst mistake a business can make is to take poorly thought-out actions in the midst of an emotional or fast breaking crisis. You can engage us as:

 

   > Trainers for you and your people to prepare a BCP or a COOP that will assure your

      preparedness. We can hold accelerated one-day workshops that will leave you with a draft BCP,

      or a more thorough two or three-day workshop that will take your participants to a well-conceived

      and polished BCP. Your organization’s size and the number of participants would determine if two

      days is enough.

 

   > Consultants to guide you or your company’s crisis manager on an individual basis through the

      task of preparing your first business continuity management program, or improving on an existing

      one. Once your program is where it should be you can maintain it with internal resources and call

      on us again only when you want renewed assistance with a specific issue.

 

   > Surrogate crisis managers so your organization does not have to employ a dedicated resource

      for this task. Large organizations can afford a full-time crisis manager. Small or medium sized

      companies may do better to simply outsource the task on a retainer basis, paying only for the 

      hours needed to establish and maintain the program for you. As retained consultants, we can deal

      with the range of problems that can affect you, from salvaging your organization’s reputation to

      the negotiated resolution of a hostage-taking event.

 

Inquesta crisis management officers hail from the U.S. State Department (Foreign Service), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and state and municipal governments charged with public safety. They have been practiced under dire circumstances in the U.S. and abroad in a range of situations from war to political and labor instability, to criminal kidnappings, to natural disasters. While many businesses do not consider that such extreme conditions will affect them, you can be more confident with tested consultants.

 

When you engage Inquesta for your crisis management needs you will be assisted by consultants and trainers with decades of experience. While no one can guarantee that a crisis will not affect your business, our preparation and guidance will greatly diminish your vulnerability to them, and will help you mitigate events you cannot avoid. Business owners and executives sleep better knowing their organization's well-being is in the hands of knowledgeable people dedicated to this task.