Business Continuity Institute (BCI) Launches First “Communicating Risks with a Global Workforce” Report as Part of Business Continuity Awareness Week (BCAW) 2018

17 May 2018 ,  —

 

 

Crisis communications plans and travel risk management plans should be ‘part of the business planning and not an after-thought’

The Business Continuity Institute (BCI), in partnership with the International SOS Foundation and Everbridge, has released a report demonstrating the value that travel risk management and, specifically, crisis communications can provide to the safety of the mobile workforce and protection of financial resources. 



The report assesses the importance of travel risk management communication with regard to; crisis handling, management buy-in, cross-functional working, speed and accuracy, practiced preparedness and benefits.  The report findings comprise of two qualitative methods. The first one was a literature review, the second one was a content analysis based on interviews with senior risk, physical security, and business continuity practitioners. 

David Thorp, Executive Director of the BCI, “Business continuity has a central role within travel risk management plans and crisis communications especially for raising awareness, planning crisis simulations exercises, and training. The report findings indicate that, in order for business continuity to be fully effective, it should collaborate with other disciplines and teams, such as crisis management, facilities management, ICT, and security.” 

Kai Boschmann, Director of the International SOS Foundation, comments, “Communicating with travelling and remote employees can be a challenge in any circumstance.  This is greatly heightened when it comes to a crisis situation where the stakes can be higher. Ineffective communication can result in trauma for individuals, business disruption, reputational and even legal consequences.  This is avoidable with effective end-to-end communications from embedding a comprehensive risk management programme and a robust multi-modal communication system for incident support.” 

Imad Mouline, CTO for Everbridge, explains, “In an increasingly mobile, unpredictable, and often unsafe world, it is critical that organizations consistently analyse how they account for the safety and wellbeing of their global employees—particularly mobile, remote and travelling workers.  This new report highlights the importance of aligning crisis communications and travel risk management plans, processes and technologies in order to uphold a “Duty of Care” and ensure organisational resilience.”

Key findings from the report include: 
  • Top management is a key function in establishing policies for business travel and crisis communications. Travel plans should be approved, implemented, evaluated, and updated regularly. 
  • There was general consensus between the interviewees that notification software systems facilitate communication and help with accountability. Whereas travel risk management plans help increase productivity, protect reputation, and make organizations more competitive. 
  • Employees are also a key consideration of travel risk plans, as they are provided with measures to protect themselves and stay safe in emergency situations. This represents a great asset for any organizations because it strengthens the morale and builds trust between employees and their employers.
The theme emerging from the report is that there is the need for organisations to be pro-active when planning for a crisis. Crisis communications plans and travel risk management plans should be “part of the business planning and not an after-thought”. 
To read the report, click here.

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For more information please contact Marianna Pallini CBCI, Communications Executive at the Business Continuity Institute at marianna.pallini@thebci.org

 

 


Notes to Editors

About the Business Continuity Institute (BCI)

Founded in 1994 with the aim of promoting a more resilient world, the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) has established itself as the world’s leading Institute for business continuity and resilience. The BCI has become the membership and certifying organization of choice for business continuity and resilience professionals globally with over 8,000 members in more than 100 countries, working in an estimated 3,000 organizations in the private, public and third sectors.

The vast experience of the Institute’s broad membership and partner network is built into its world class education, continuing professional development and networking activities. Every year, more than 1,500 people choose BCI training, with options ranging from short awareness raising tools to a full academic qualification, available online and in a classroom. The Institute stands for excellence in the resilience profession and its globally recognised Certified grades provide assurance of technical and professional competency. The BCI offers a wide range of resources for professionals seeking to raise their organization’s level of resilience, and its extensive thought leadership and research programme helps drive the industry forward. With approximately 120 Partners worldwide, the BCI Partnership offers organizations the opportunity to work with the BCI in promoting best practice in business continuity and resilience.

The BCI welcomes everyone with an interest in building resilient organizations from newcomers, experienced professionals and organizations. Further information about the BCI is available at www.thebci.org

 

About International SOS Foundation

 Celebrating 10 years as ambassadors for Duty of Care, the International SOS Foundation drives and promotes best practice in protecting employee safety, security, health and wellbeing. Through a range of groundbreaking thought-leadership, CPD and IOSH accredited training and expert led events, the Foundation helps to share vital insight, understanding, and practical risk mitigation measures. All employees need to be protected, at home or away, and the COVID-19 pandemic has created an evolving and complex Duty of Care landscape for organisations to navigate.

The Foundation is a registered charity. Initially launched with a grant from International SOS in 2011, it is now an independent, non-profit organisation.

For more information on Duty of Care and the International SOS Foundation, please visit http://www.internationalsosfoundation.org/



About Everbridge 

Everbridge, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVBG) is a global software company that provides enterprise software applications that automate and accelerate organizations’ operational response to critical events in order to keep people safe and businesses running faster. During public safety threats such as active shooter situations, terrorist attacks or severe weather conditions, as well as critical business events such as IT outages, cyber-attacks or other incidents such as product recalls or supply-chain interruptions, over 3,800 global customers rely on the company’s SaaS-based platform to quickly and reliably aggregate and assess threat data, locate people at risk and responders able to assist, automate the execution of pre-defined communications processes, and track progress on executing response plans. The company’s platform sent over 2 billion messages in 2017, and offers the ability to reach more than 200 countries and territories with secure delivery to over 100 different communication devices. The company’s critical communications and enterprise safety applications include Mass Notification, Incident Management, Safety Connection™, IT Alerting, Visual Command Center®, Crisis Commander®, Community Engagement™ and Secure Messaging. Everbridge serves 9 of the 10 largest U.S. cities, 8 of the 10 largest U.S.-based investment banks, 25 of the 25 busiest North American airports, six of the 10 largest global consulting firms, six of the 10 largest global auto makers, all four of the largest global accounting firms, four of the 10 largest U.S.-based health care providers and four of the 10 largest U.S.-based health insurers. Everbridge is based in Boston and Los Angeles with additional offices in San Francisco, Lansing, Orlando, Beijing, London, and Stockholm For more information, visit www.everbridge.com, read the company blog, and follow on Twitter and Facebook.

All Everbridge products are trademarks of Everbridge, Inc. in the USA and other countries. All other product or company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners