Most of those that responded to a Business Continuity Institute (BCI) survey faced a crisis in the last 12 months, according to the BCI’s latest annual report on crisis management. Some three quarters, 75.1 per cent of organisations responding to a survey had activated their crisis management team over the past 12 months; an ‘extreme weather event’ was the number one cause.
That number of activations can undoubtedly be linked to a growing, and increasingly unpredictable, threat landscape, Rachael Elliott of the BCI wrote in a foreword to the report, sponsored by the software firm F24. She noted that severe weather events are becoming more extreme and encroaching on previously โsafeโ areas; global and civil conflicts are testing organizationsโ resilience to new extremes, and others are being forced to act to build counter-strategies for civil unrest and strikes, ‘while cyber-crime continues its upwards trajectory’.
She commented also on ‘the need to consolidate information and take a non-siloed approach to crisis management’. Many, the survey found, are moving away from physical crisis rooms in favour of virtual rooms that allow global participation. The top priorities in a crisis are: quick mobilisation of the crisis management team, effective external communications, and staff well-being.
The survey found much use of a centralised crisis management structure, ‘reflecting a preference for streamlined decision-making’, according to the report. However, a growing number employ a hybrid approach, blending central and business units or geographical regions, to balance control with a local, adapted response; using enterprise software and messaging apps, as a blend of structured and informal communication methods. Among the challenges given by those taking the survey were inadequate awareness of crisis plans among staff and insufficiently trained team members; and the risk of ‘burn out’ among those that do respond to crises.
The survey found post-incident reviews as a common practice, whether done consistently or at least for major incidents; the BCI applauds such reflective processes post-incident as ‘one of the positive learnings that resulted from the pandemic’.
You can freely download and read the report by registering (without having to pay to become a member) at the BCI website: visit https://www.thebci.org/.
