News & Commentary

 Speaking Engagements

• Workplace Violence: Reduce the Threats to Your Institution's Employees, BankInfoSecurity.com, 7/10/2008. Details.
• Risk Analysis/BIA, Los Angeles ACP, TBD. 
• Navigating the Unexpected with Confidence: Terrorism Revisited, Webinar, 7/22/2008. Details.
• Continuity Talk (sm) Community Programs, Podcast, June 2008. Details.
• Preparing for the Unexpected: How to Develop and Implement Contingency Plans that Work, Five Session Seminar on Business Continuity (16 hours), TBD. 

 Whitepapers/Articles

• An Insurance Primer for Business Continuity Professionals
  by Kimberly R. Matlon, JD.  Insurance. Just saying the word can make many go comatose. However, as a business continuity professional, adding knowledge of insurance to your toolbox will make you that much more effective. Creating a resilient organization is a combination of purchasing and maintaining appropriate business insurance products, and developing and maintaining a comprehensive business continuity plan. You know all about the BCP, so lets talk about the insurance-side of things.
• From My Bookshelf
  Irene Rozansky.  Ive been reviewing books to include in a course Ill be teaching next Fall. One book I came across that I think is particularly worth talking about is Building a BIA Process: A Hands-On Blueprint published in 2007 by K&M Publishers, Inc and written by Barry Cardoza.
• Deciding When and How to Shelter-in-Place
  Kimberly Matlon, JD.  There may come a time when it is safer for you and your employees to stay inside, rather than to evacuate. Knowing when, and how, to shelter-in-place is key to surviving when hazardous contaminants are released into the air, or when there is a gunman waiting to fire on people as they are evacuating the premises. A common misconception is comparing a shelter-in-place program to escaping to a bomb, fallout, or storm shelter. This is not the same thing. During shelter-in-place, you do not want to seal yourself off from the outside world completely. Instead, you will want to go to a small, interior room within your facility that has few or no windows, and follow clear instructions laid out ahead of time.
• Inside Your Business Continuity Management Toolbox: Negotiation
  Kimberly Matlon, JD.  Negotiation is a conflict resolution process in which people seek a mutually acceptable outcome to a set of differing of opinions. Although we all negotiate every day, with our spouses, our children, our bosses, or even ourselves, we may not be ready to handle team conflict in an effective manner. Thats where negotiation skills come in to play. But, becoming a skilled negotiator takes time and practice.
• End-of-Year Task List Weight Loss Program
  Kimberly R. Matlon, JD.  If youre like most people, you have a huge list of items that perpetually stay on your To Do list. Knowing those items are out there is like walking around with heavy weights around your ankles you are unendingly bogged down. December is traditionally a very slow month, unless you are in retail. So, now is a great time to tackle those long-forgotten tasks with a vengeance, including dusting off your BCP!
• Press Release
  R&A Crisis Management Services offers a webinar on Building an Effective Crisis Management Team on November 13. A "disconnect" between Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, Emergency Response and the Crisis Management Team can cause serious resiliency problems and delay planned recovery.
• Effective Strategies for Dealing with Violence in the Workplace
  Kimberly Matlon, JD.  Violence in the workplace is more prevalent than most of us can imagine. And, it can happen at your place of business. Be prepared by knowing your employees and their normal behavior, training personnel to report unusual behavior, training personnel on safety behaviors, and give potentially violent personnel a place where they can turn for help. Here are some things to think about.
• Be Prepared: Planning for the Pandemic
  Kimberly R. Matlon.  Just because its not making headlines doesnt mean it wont happen. Scientists and researchers around the world agree sooner or later pandemic flu will happen. Although it cannot be predicted exactly when the next pandemic will arrive, there is no doubt that one is sure to affect us at some point in the future. But, what is the pandemic flu, why do scientists think its coming and how can you begin planning for the unknown?
• Reputation Management
  Irene Rozansky & Kimberly Matlon.  Wolfowitz. JetBlue. Spinach. Virginia Tech. What do they all have in common? Damaged reputation. Although it generally takes years of hard work to build a good reputation, a reputation can be destroyed in a matter of a few short hours. Especially when consumer confidence is low, which is easily made worse with high profile cases. Reputation is the most valuable asset an organization has, after its people. However, it is the least understood aspect of an organization and the most taken for granted. Because of this, it is often toward the bottom of the list of planning strategies for the business continuity professional.
• Business Continuity and Risk Management
  Irene Rozansky.  I would argue that risk management, more than any other element in the business continuity life-cycle, has changed the most dramatically over the past half decade. Because of this, the very essence of business continuity management is morphing into a holistic management process. Once upon a time, when a business continuity professional mentioned risk it was in relation to conducting a risk assessment; to verify infrastructure or technology threats. This list was used as the foundation for a business impact analysis and/or defining recovery strategies. As many plans are based solely on a worst-case scenario assumption, notably total destruction of a site, often organizations could justify foregoing a risk assessment and leave risk management to insurance protection. That was then, and this is now.
• Communicating in a Crisis
  Irene Rozansky.  Board members have a fiduciary duty to exercise a high standard of care in managing the organizations money and property. In an emergency, this duty should extend to helping the organization manage its communication with key stakeholders: customers, members, strategic partners, employees, regulators, news media, and the community. The more chaotic things get, the more the board and senior staff need to coordinate their communication efforts.
• Getting Involved Volunteer in Your Community
  Irene Rozansky.  The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) concept was developed and implemented by the Los Angeles Fire Department in 1985. They recognized that citizens would very likely be on their own during the early stages of a catastrophic disaster, possibly due to the size of the area, lost communications, and impassable roads. With some basic training in disaster survival and rescue skills, the citizens could help themselves and others survive until assistance arrived. FEMA adopted the concept and expanded it to include all hazards and made this training available nationally in 1993. In 2003, the Citizens Corps program was created to harness the power of every individual through education, training, and volunteer service to make communities safer, stronger, and better prepared. CERT was selected as one of the primary programs offered to the American public to meet this challenge. There are three keys to a successful community-based preparedness program.
• BIA: Building the Foundation
  Irene Rozansky.  You wouldnt dream of building a new house on a foundation that was not created especially for the given size, layout, environment, and plot. Starting with the wrong foundation leaves you with a house that falls short of your expectations or worse yet, is dangerous. You dont want the foundation to be too big or too little but just right! In order to do this, the construction team depends on the accurate information from the architect in order to make informed decisions on how to proceed. This is analogous to building an organizations resiliency program.
• Resolve to Be Successful in 2007 One Day at a Time
  I am an optimist. It is a necessary trait to be in this business. I cherish beginnings because there is so much hope and promise. And, if things are done well, great success will follow! Okay, so here we are at the beginning of a promising new year 2007. Whats the secret to having a more successful year then the previous one? I suspect the answer is different for different people and I certainly dont pretend to know all the answers. But, I am happy to pass along to you the things I do know in the hope that you will be inspired to plan for a more successful year.
• VoIP as a Business Continuity Tool
  Kimberly R. Matlon, JD.  Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. Weve all heard of it by now. Its changing the way we think about telephone service. VoIP is using the Internet to replace conventional telephone lines to transmit telephone calls. It can increase productivity while cutting costs. Its a silver bullet for communications issues. Or, is it?
• 2006 Software Survey
  Disaster Recovery Journal.  Disaster Recovery Journal published their 2006 Software Survey, which addresses some issues to consider when purchasing a business continuity/disaster recovery software package. Although the survey does not include enough information to make a final determination, it is a good "jumping off point" when making a software package decision.
• Be First, Be Right, Be Credible
  Today, organizations must be able to operate even if they find themselves suddenly without offices, equipment, stored data or key employees. When disaster strikes, organizations need to communicate openly and honestly with all their key stakeholders; employees, board of directors, customers, strategic partners, service providers, government, news media, and the public. The more chaotic things get, the greater the need for communication at the precise moment when normal communication modes are most difficult or not available.
• Staying Afloat - Discovering and Dealing with Risks
  Irene Rozansky.  SIGN INSIDE OF LIFEBOAT: Some wetness is normal. If submersion occurs, move arms in a swimming motion." Its a no-brainer: conducting business-as-usual is extremely difficult when your business is sinking from the iceberg that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The purpose of contingency planning is to create buoyancy. Bounce back quickly when bad things happen! One of the first steps in creating a buoyant organization is to discover what you are up against what icebergs are in your path that need to be dealt with from pre- to post-crisis.
• Workplace Violence: It's Everybody's Business
  Kimberly R. Lusk, JD.  The burden of workplace violence is not assumed by only the victims of the violence, but also by their co-workers, families, and employers. Workplace violence is much more than well-publicized fatalities; it includes such things as threats, non-fatal injuries, lost work productivity, legal liability, economic impact on businesses, and other costs.
• Techniques for Effective Employee Pre-Screening
  The best defense is a good offense. The best way to deal with a crisis is to prevent it. Preventing workplace violence starts with good pre-employment screening.
• Prepare Your Business For a Pandemic
  Learn how to prepare your business for a pandemic that would significantly affect your employees, your customers and your business as a whole.
• Take the First Step without Falling Off a Cliff: Guide to Creating a Successful Project Proposal
  So, here it is. You or someone in your company has recognized the need for a business continuity plan (BCP) to maintain the long-term health of your company, and you have been chosen to draft the plan. Where do you start? It is likely that this will not be the only project on your plate or for others in your company, and it is likely that the person who asked you to create the BCP may not truly understand the depth of the endeavor.
• A Few Facts to Ponder
  Review of some startling business continuity, crisis management and disaster recovery statistics