Preparing for the Unexpected

In this episode we'll talk to industry expert Dennis Lenard about the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and it's relationship to the IT Disaster Recovery Plan (ITDRP).

In many instances, IT recovery planning is performed solely within the IT department, without communication to other departments in the organization.

The BIA provides a wealth of information, but more importantly the communication between the owner of the BIA and the IT department allows for a BIA that provides the requirements for a successful recovery.

Dennis will talk on such themes as: Business Relationships, IT DR Requirements, Resulting Actions, DR usage of the BIA, the 'Realities' and Stakeholder Discussions.

It's sure to give many some insight on how to link their BIA with the IT DRP.

Today's most threatening scenario is a cyber-attack. It comes without prior warning, can lay dormant for weeks, may defy detection for months and may have the greatest impact upon organizations. As in most new threats, the response has been a focused resource oriented approach. But entities now see that a non-integrated approach just dilates the effectiveness of the response. In order to be most effective a holistic BCM approach to detection and response has proven to be most effective. We speak with renowned expert and author, Allan Berman, President of the DRI Foundation, who will help us understand what cyber threats are out there and how we can help mitigate the probability of an attack harming us and our organizations. You'll never look at your refrigerator the same way again!

Resilience is something all communities, organizations and individuals strive for. We speak with international resiliency expert, researcher and author Professor Yossi Sheffi about his book 'The Power of Resilience: How the Best Companies Manage the Unexpected'. We'll talk about what resilience really means and what it isn't and understanding how redundancy and flexibility come into play. Prof Sheffi will also talk to us on how we can sometime loose our way during planning and cause problems for ourselves, suffer from 'Paralysis by Analysis'. He will show us how we need to use a two-pronged approach when creating organizational; people strategies and Business strategies. It's a very informative show full of great examples and insights.

Mastering Business Continuity Management (BCM) can be a very tough goal since professionals are not just dealing with a couple of departments within an organization, they are working with the entire organization, including its 34rd party external partners and their local communities. We talk to globallay recognized Business Continuity expert, speaker, trainer, consultant and author, Dr. Michael D Redmond as we talk about some of the key foundational components of a good BCM program that all BCM professionals must know and understand. will touch on Project Management, Risk Assessments and Risk Analyses (and the difference between them) and the Business Impact Analysis.

Social Media has the power to influence are personal and professional lives and not always in a manner in which we expect. It can be full of misinformation that can cause allot of harm and recognizing the good from the bad can be extremely difficult for organizations. This week, we welcome back Lt. Glen Mills from the Burlington, Massachusetts Police Department who is a specialist in monitoring social media; separating the good information from the bad. He will provide us some key insights that our organizations –and even ourselves – should follow to ensure we don't get stuck in the quagmire and confusion social media can sometimes cause. Glen will provide us with examples and tips to help organizations, communities and individuals better prepare for - and respond to - situations that can cause us harm and prevent us from being taken in by those who would do us harm. When we better understand how to monitor and leverage social media, the more resilient we can become.

As the effects of climate change are increasing in frequency and severe weather events become more pronounced and visible, there is greater need for communities and organizations to tackle the issue head-on. They need explore strategies for mitigating the related risks and for strengthening adaptive capacity to handle escalating impacts. We speak with Gillian Coyles, who is a Senior Planner of Enterprise Crisis & Business Continuity Management at the Canadian Tire Corporation. She will help us understand some of the challenges faced by Canadian Tire and learn what her organization is doing to adapt their business continuity practices to climate change to improve their overall resilience.

Another great DRJ conference in Phoenix, Arizona this year (Sep 29 - Oct 2/19). This show highlights some of the sessions, workshops and talks and my own experiences from the conference. Be sure to check out the live events broadcast page to hear the chats we had with conference vendors and speakers.

In recent year, typhoons have struck the Philippines and Vanuatu,; earthquakes have rocked Haiti, Pakistan, and Nepal; floods have swept through Pakistan and M9izambique; droughts have hit Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia; and more. All led to loss of life and loss of livelihoods, and recovery will take years. One of the likely effects o climate change is to increases the likelihood of the type extreme weather events that seems to cause these disasters. But do extreme events have to turn into disasters with huge loss of live and suffering? We talk with internationally recognized Professor of Economic Policy and Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at the University of Oxford, UK. We will talk about the challenges with current disaster responses and why they can be slow, inefficient and uncoordinated. We'll even learn about the biggest hinderance to disaster response - and it's not what you might think.

Host Alex Fullick of Preparing for the Unexpected as he broadcasts live from DJR 2019. listen in for all Innovations in Managing Risk and Resiliency live from JW MArriot Desert Ridge in Phoenix, Arizona.

Host Alex Fullick of Preparing for the Unexpected as he broadcasts live from DJR 2019. listen in for all Innovations in Managing Risk and Resiliency live from JW MArriot Desert Ridge in Phoenix, Arizona.