Controlling a crisis: We all think we get it but do we know what to do with it?
Crises Control was showcased for the first time this month to leaders of the business continuity industry in the UK. Our two days at the Business Continuity Institute’s conference and exhibition at Olympia was fascinating.
The industry is growing and it needs to. I don’t think there are many business out there now – whatever their size – which still fail to understand the importance of having standard operating procedures in place to counter a crisis. Even those companies which don’t need to keep their eye on a regulator (which is keeping its eyes in them) know they can’t survive without a robust and effective business continuity plan in place.
A fair number of our competitors and collaborators where at the BCI show – most of them appearing to offer a similar product with some nifty bells and whistles.
What was clear to me – and to many others at the show – was the big difference between Crises Control and the rest of the industry. Crises Control is the only mass access product in the market place. Crises Control is the easiest product to access and the quickest to get up and running. Our model is being adopted by big business with large numbers of employees spread across multiple sites but it is also the perfect fit for the smaller SMEs and even one person bands. A number of smallers companies we spoke to were excited by the way Crises Control can incorporate outside service providers into the crisis team of a small business.
Crises Control allows you to build the right teams within your business to handle a crisis. The process which helps you do this is deliberately simple and intuitive. Our technology allows you to ‘collect’ the details of employees into our database and then create teams and groups within the system for them and ensure they are able to get the right flow of information to deal with whatever crisis occurs.
However, although the BCI gathering was a great opportunity for us to do business it was an even greater opportunity to learn where this vital industry is going and what its thought leaders are most concerned about.
We spoke to hundreds of people at the show. Some of them even agreed to voice their thoughts on camera. One theme was a constant with we asked people about this business continuity business – preparations is everything and keep a vigil on the way you will handle a crisis is a constantly evolving process.
A big thank you to all who put their faces and opinions in front of the camera. What they had to say is well worth of your time.
