Communicating using technology during a crisis; by Emma Paton, Sales Manager, Premiere Global Services.
Surprisingly many companies do not realise the impact that a crisis can have on their business and also their employees. However, a crisis can be any situation or incident that has a detrimental effect on your business ranging from a fire, technology outage, product withdrawal, rumours and natural disasters, to terrorism. Most companies think that that they are prepared for a crisis as they have a business continuity plan in place but is this enough?
When a crisis does occur, the company needs to deal with it effectively, and be prepared to move quickly to minimise the potential damage not only to its business, but also to its brand reputation and the impact on its employees. A company needs to ensure that they not only deal with the situation at hand, but that they are able to communicate both internally and externally with all their stakeholders.
Having the ability to communicate quickly and effectively with all the key decision makers is essential during a crisis to ensure that it does not escalate out of control. For example what would you do if you walked into the office and noticed all your confidential files had been stolen? In the first instance, most people would contact their manager or person in charge, to find out what to do next. By having an up-to-date continuity plan in place, employees know who to contact, what channels to use and the correct procedures to follow.
During a crisis, the Crisis Management Team will want to urgently confer and discuss how best to implement the business continuity plan. As the crisis can hit at any time, it is often the case that the team are in different locations. Decisions need to be made quickly and in real time to ensure effective communications. The easiest way to bring people together to make these decisions is over the telephone. However, this can be difficult, especially if you don’t have everyone’s numbers to hand. Therefore how can you possibly get everyone on one call at the same time?
By using a dedicated virtual meeting room, members can speak to each other in real time and make decisions instantaneously. Technology such as audio conferencing allows users not only to dial into the call using one number but by dialing one number, automatically, dial all the key decision makers into a conference call. Thus ensuring the continuity plan can be implemented as quickly and effectively as possible.
Once the issues have been discussed and the next steps established, it is time to make all the relevant stakeholders aware of the situation. Using communications channels such as conference calls will help companies inform their stakeholders quickly and effectively.
It also allows the Crisis Management Team to ask and respond to any questions in a controlled fashion during the call. In addition, automated SMS alerts and voice messaging can be used to relay urgent messages to the stakeholders, set up meetings and inform them on the status of the crisis. For example, if a site has been closed, employees can be told en masse when it has reopened and it is safe for them to return to work. A company should also have a back up network system in case their technology fails during a crisis for example another phone system which bypasses failures. This is particularly helpful during major crises such as 7/7, where phone lines became jammed and networks failed.
The technology is now in place to pull people together and communicate during a crisis situation, but companies still need to ensure that their continuity plan is regularly updated with new contact details and scenarios. The content should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it aligns with the companies’ strategy and all the procedures and holding statements are correct.
No matter how carefully crafted the continuity plan is, it will probably reveal discrepancies during practice. Testing is key to the effectiveness of a continuity plan and it is vital that it does not undergo its first test during a crisis. A recent survey from Fortune magazine found that 85 per cent of communication managers from Fortune 1000 companies have a continuity plan in place, yet less than one-third have ever tested it to make sure it works. Developing different scenarios and testing the processes and technology in place will show up these discrepancies and help a company prepare for any eventualities.
Crises are going to happen regardless! Companies need to ensure that their plans are up-to-date and that their communication channels are kept open and easy to access, so they can communicate at the touch of a button to stop a crisis before it has any serious impact.
About Premier Global Services
The firm is exhibiting at the Business Continuity Expo and Conference at EXCEL Docklands on March 28 and 29 – an event for managing risk, resilience and recovery. Organisers report that this event will explore the solutions and best practice to ensure operational continuity and protect a company’s interests before, during and after an incident. For further information visit:
