| | SEPTEMBER 20208CIOReviewIN MY OPINIONThere are many unknowns in today's business landscape. They say to be prepared for the new norm, but no one can define what the new norm is. Businesses truly only have one option and that is to be prepared for whatever may come their way. But the question is, how do you do that? The first step is to understand the landscape of your business and what you need to succeed. Then you take that information and create checks and balances and discover any possible gaps in your business that can be affected by an outside issue. You then build programs that can fill those gaps effectively and efficiently when needed, this in essence is a business continuity program.A business continuity process is a strategic effort to confront the potential for a disaster or crisis and prepare an organization to take immediate actions as necessary. This process should provide detailed and flexible information to help protect employees, customers, assets, and shareholders. Business continuity plans enable an organization to be prepared for different types of situations such as:· Crisis management· Inventory management· Demand on new customer procedures· Emergency call procedure· Pandemic preparedness· Change in compliance mandates (Federal, State, Contractual)All leaders need to consider the types of crises they may face and then to actively prepare a response. This should have a trickle effect and begin at the top creating a macro overview of a business continuity plan, which BUSINESS CRISIS: UNDERSTAND/ PLAN / PREPARE / ACTBy Jason Blumenauer, Vice President Head of Security, FirstGroup
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