Small vs. Large

by Micheal Delamere | Oct 5, 2016 | Related Local Business

The question has often come about from many companies seeking consultants, auditors and program developers, how can a young company with limited staffing support a company on a global scale and the answer is and always will be Strategic Business Partnerships.  There is a reason most companies seek outside support and that is these individual companies provide the specific knowledge, experience and expertise to assist the larger company without requiring them to hiring internal staff, especially on short term projects and assignments.

The company selected must have a clearly defined program that meets the client’s needs and that their leadership has the knowledge, experience and expertise to support the needs on a global scale and that they can demonstrate these capabilities through their global partnership.  This company should be able to demonstrate that they have a strategic plan to support and administer the project or program and that they have a process in place to verify and validate their capabilities.

Here are some key things to consider:

• Company’s Leadership Team, experience, knowledge, and capabilities
• Company’s Financial Capabilities to support the project or program
• Company’s Internal Hiring, Training, and Certification Process
• Company’s Strategic Business Partnership on a Global Scale
• Company’s ability to complete the project on time and as agreed

There are a number of other factors to consider and keep in mind that even large, international consulting companies use smaller companies to support their clients.  Far too often individuals seek out large, well established companies as their service or solution provider and they are not always capable of supporting these projects so you should not rely solely on the name or size of the company but rather do research on them, such as client references and recommendations.

It is recommended that companies seeking specialized companies have a detailed outline of the project, timeline, expectations, and financial dependencies.  A well-thought-out strategy will allow for ease in the selection of the right company with the right capabilities and knowledge. In most cases with smaller companies, you have direct contact and interact with their senior leadership team who are in most cases directly engaged in the work activity.

4 Tips to Launch Your Business Continuity and Resumption Planning

by Micheal Delamere | Sep 15, 2016 | Related Local Business

Business Continuity and Resumption becomes more important to businesses when something goes wrong. The panic sets in, the rush to make things right and then the finger-pointing aftermath. Many companies take the gamble because business continuity and resumption seems like such a daunting task and who really has time for all that?  Well, here are four steps to motivate you to get cracking on your Business Continuity and Resumption Planning (BCRP).

One of the great places to start your BCRP process is to conduct an All Hazards Risk Assessment. A good all hazards assessment will short-list what your company (per location) will need to address in your planning. For example, are hurricanes prevalent in your operating area, or is that St. Louis branch far inland and unaffected by such weather conditions? What are the historic norms for your hot list of hazards? Now that you have completed your All Hazards Risk Assessment, you have great intel to begin your BCRP journey…

Tip #1  Leverage Your Internal Resources

Your company has many unique processes and programming to deliver your product or service to   market. The greatest experts are therefore within your own operations. There are many front-line personnel that hold amazing amounts of historical and current know-how. Whether you tackle this planning alone or with a consultant, you need to ensure this knowledge base is exploited for the good of your company and you need to resist any third-party consultant that wishes to move you towards a cookie-cutter approach to BCRP. Leverage your internal resources and save yourself money in the long run.

Tip #2  Break Up the Work Into Small Tasks

BCRP does not come together overnight. Organize a team of internal stakeholders from various departments within your operations. Develop a questionnaire to be sent out to every department within your operations. Send it to that department’s manager. Have each department rank their critical processes and equipment/material needs. Don’t overload them and don’t give these folks to many tasks to do at once, or they simple will push this to the side of their desks.

Tip #3  Analyze Responses and Probe Loss

Now that your team has flushed out what may be critical to your specific business units, have each department take another small bite of the BCRP pie. Have your team develop a rating system for the impact of loss of process or equipment, based on time. What will the impact be if this process, equipment or other asset be unavailable for (5 minutes, 20 minutes, 40 minutes, 1 hour and so on). Include 24, 48 and 72 hour time frames.

Tip #4  Zero in and Get Creative

Now have your team work with the departments to sort out what was “nice to have” on the lists, as opposed to what is really CRITICAL to company operations. When you have whittled things down to what is truly critical, it’s time to work creatively on solutions that will help your company RESUME operations, following a emergency. Think out of the box to see what you can borrow, patch or share within and outside of your operations. Pen agreements and devise plans around these valuable recovery resources and begin to assemble these items NOW, while there is no active crisis to deal with. Ensure that you update this entire process on a regular basis.

There are many ways to tackle the Business Continuity and Resumption Planning process. This is one very simplistic way of starting something from scratch. In an upcoming blog post, I will share some examples from the field regarding some of these items and issues. Good luck with your BCRP!

Business Continuity & Resumption – A Report from the Field

by Micheal Delamere | Sep 3, 2016 | Related Local Business

This article could easily be titled, “The Things People Do”. When it comes to assessing business continuity and resumption (BCR), I think I have seen it all until the next assignment. Here are some gems to get you thinking about your environment and things to keep your eyes on.

The Obvious Not Being Obvious

I once worked in a very secure environment that required security clearances for everyone, including the custodians. It was a critical operation that had to function with 99.999 reliability. On my first day I inspected the building and grounds from top to bottom with the Facility Manager. My role was Security and Business Continuity Manager.  I had us commence the tour in the subbasement “bunker” of the building. We entered an electrical vault and I could not believe my eyes. Despite massive amounts of money spent on a post-disaster structure, the architect created a nightmare from a business continuity perspective. In this same room that was only about 8′ x 12′, he designed it to house the main electrical panel for the entire building. What’s wrong with that you ask? Well, also inside the room with this panel was the primary electrical transformer. Does it get worse? YES. Also housed in this room was the backup transformer hanging disconnected on a pipe and suspended off the ground, ready to be placed into action, if needed. Well conceivably if the primary transformer blew up, wouldn’t it damage the backup sitting across from it and possibly the main electrical panel sitting next to it? The estimate to correct this was over $400,000. The Things People Do.

The VPN Is Too Private

Today’s tech companies use Virtual Private Networks (VPN’s) as a standard way to facility work from home and secure connectivity for employees. One client has a sit that at the time had a headcount of 140 FTE’s. However, that was expected to rise exponentially in the next few months. Everyone in this operation has a laptop. Everyone has a cell phone. Laptops and cell phones are all that is required for this client to get it’s work done. Simple? The biggest challenge here for BCR was that the VPN requires licenses and with pending headcount soaring in several cities, there would be a shortage of VPN licenses and possibly no budget to purchase more. It’s great that all employees have the tools and infrastructure required to get the job done and looking at the layout of the city, even internet connectivity has been great during past natural disasters. However, this client’s operations could be severely restricted due to a simple thing…VPN licenses. We have now seen this problem several times in our consulting practice at numerous client sites. What about yours?

These are just a couple of examples of the many things you may encounter as you chip away at your Business Continuity and Resumption Planning. The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) has courses and guides that may also assist you. Thanks to my good friend, Clive Lunn for reminding me after my last post!

Behavioral Threat Assessments Are Essential to Your Business!

by Micheal Delamere | Aug 20, 2016 | Related Local Business

Behavioral threat assessment is an essential tool for reducing risk in places of employment. While the workplace is traditionally thought of as a place to go to focus on projects relative to one’s employment and interact with your peers for collaboration & innovation, there are external as well as internal threats that security & risk managers must deal with on a regular daily basis. Domestic violence seeps into the workplace often times creating an uncomfortable environment for the threatened individual and perhaps their colleagues, rendering an unproductive work environment for all. Workplace violence incidents have become fairly mainstream in recent years with semi-regular reminders in the news that those who wish to do us harm are out there and often times do present precursors to others who may not consider reporting odd or irregular behaviors to management.

Risk Management Helps Prevent Incidents

Whether it be domestic issues spilling into the workplace, or internal threats of employee on employer violence, both need to be taken very seriously. The Risk Management Team for the organization should review each event together to agree upon next steps towards resolution. These next steps may include the need for bringing in an outside consultant who is experienced in dealing with such behaviors on a regular basis. It could also include additional support services for surveillance on the person creating the threatening situation or perhaps protective agents to be put into place for the person being threatened; in select cases it may require both. However, every robust and holistic risk management program should have a Behavioral Psychologist who specializes in Workplace Incidents to have them conduct and facilitate the Behavioral Threat Assessment of the individual creating the problem in or for the workplace. The Behavioral Threat Assessment will help establish the baseline needs in the next steps in resolving the problem.

PRS Behavioral Threat Assessment Increases Security

Here at PRS, we offer a packed service with having Dr. Michael Corcoran on retainer with us to help provide you with peace of mind in the Behavioral Threat Assessment process. We believe in a “menu” approach to provide comfort and reduce fear. Depending upon the severity of each individual circumstance, PRS can further provide the surveillance operatives to monitor the activities of the person posing the threat to gain additional intelligence on the person’s whereabouts, activities, demeanor, etc and/or deploy our protective services agents to create a much more comfortable environment for the person(s) being threatened so you can sleep well at night. PRS management takes great strides in our execution of operations to ensure your organizational brand and integrity are represented in the most professional manner possible! Please contact us to find out how we can help you in this area.