The Continuity Forecast: Because Business Never Stops

Do you know what to do if an earthquake suddenly strikes your city? Do your team members? Those questions ought to make you stop and think because lives are at stake.

Michael Harding is the global program lead of the business continuity management team at ARI Fleet, the world's largest private, family-owned fleet management company. He ensures that there are internal plans in place to manage response and return to operations following an incident.

Today we're going to focus on earthquakes. Earthquakes come without warning; they're unforeseen, so it's critical that your entire team understand exactly what to do if one strikes.

Whether it's a natural disaster like a flood or hurricane, political unrest, or terrorism, the reality is that most every company at some point is going to have to face down some sort of disruption.

So why has business continuity failed most companies? And what solutions are out there to help?

On a recent episode of The Continuity Forecast, we sat down with Mark Armour, Director of Global Business Continuity at Brink's, for a discussion around where business continuity is falling short, the solutions, and the future of business continuity.

When you meet Vicky McKim you start to second-guess your preparedness. She's the director of risk management and business resilience at Aureon. For many years, she's seen firsthand the wild, unthinkable happen to companies who'd thought they had their continuity plan under control (even her own).

That's why she's an advocate for environmental risk assessments. It's more than just insurance, she says. Having insurance is one small component of it. While most businesses will take care to look at their financial and market risk, very few will consider operational risk. In other words, events that can put them temporarily, or permanently, out of business.

From natural disasters to cyberattacks, we're talking risk mitigation and operational optimization with UPS veteran, and current CEO of GlobalMesh, Robert Marsh. Robert brings 20+ years of experience to this week's episode of The Continuity Forecast as he shares with us how preparing for the worst can not only save your business during a crisis, but can save you in day to day operational costs.

If you've ever traveled anywhere, you know about weather. You know how it can dramatically shift your plans, and reshape your feelings of safety. Well next time you arrive at your destination safely, think of Kevin Crowley.

He's the Sr. Analyst for Ground Safety Programs at JetBlue Airways. They serve over 100 cities in the Americas, and Kevin's a large part of ensuring safe travels for JetBlue's passengers.

He came on The Continuity Forecast to share what strategies, tactics, and technologies he uses to keep the traveling public safe.

Often times, companies completely miss-prioritize their business continuity strategy. They focus on the wrong items first, which means they spend more money, suffer harsher media impact, and disillusion staff.

Joining us today is Michael Herrera, CEO of MHA Consulting. His company has been consulting companies on business continuity and disaster recovery for almost 20 years. His clients include various Fortune 10 companies, as well as NASA, Square, American Express, and others.

He came on the Continuity Forecast podcast and shared how to prioritize your business continuity strategy.

Disaster is an open-ended term.

When disaster strikes at work, whether it affects 40 or 140,000 employees, you need to have a business plan.

That's what we recently chatted about with Michael Garza, Business Continuity Consultant at Toyota, whose business resiliency experience is built on a graduate degree in Occupational Safety and a certification in Safety Management Systems. Michael is your go-to for what to do in a disaster.

The purpose of The Continuity Forecast podcast is to educate the Business Continuity community by bringing on leaders so they can share their best practices, experiences, and of course, how they are tackling some of the most hardcore issues and mitigating those threats.

The mission is to provide educational and inspirational content to these ends, so that the listeners can avoid disruptions and continue providing their services in turn. 

Listeners are invited to email their ideas to the show and the host, Steve Prinzivalli, at [email protected].