A crisis situation may impact every aspect of an organization or group, from the office worker and project staff to the corporate board: as well as associated families, friends and communities. It may involve incident management responses at a local level – through to full scale crisis management which impacts the entire organization on a global level. Critical situations are often managed (initially) by inexperienced staff as more experienced managers mobilize to meet the challenges a situation may present the group. The knowledge applied, protocols followed and expertise employed by both local and senior managers will determine how an organization weathers a crisis or disaster situation, and the impacts the event has upon individuals and the organization as a whole.
RSM provides a wide range of organizations highly experienced and proven consultants who design and develop comprehensive and sustainable Business Continuity Management Plans that span all organizational divisions and operating activities – supporting enterprise resilience and business recovery through effective contingency planning and crisis response policies, plans, protocols and training. Our advisors also help to design the crisis management infrastructure at the home office, regional and local levels, advising organizations on how best to organize layered and interdependent leadership teams to effectively deal with strategic, operational and tactical level requirements.
Our plan covers a wide range of requirements through a structured and pragmatic systems using:
- Home office and corporate Business Continuity Policies
- Organizational Business Continuity Manager’s Guidelines
- Tactical or field level Incident Management Plans
- Organizational Crisis Communications Plans
- Specific crisis event policies and plans including:
- Disaster management plans
- Pandemic preparedness plans
- Kidnap and ransom plans
- Fatality repatriation plans
- Fraud and corruption plans
- Extortion, intimidation and coercion plans
- Emergency evacuation management plans
- Arrest, detention and exit denial
We also provide a wide range of staff and management handbooks, posters and response guides.
The value of a Business Continuity Management Plan and supporting protocols and training can be measured in terms of its positive impact in supporting safe and productive business activities, as well as enabling business continuity and enterprise recovery during and following a crisis or disaster situation. Between 2006 and 2010, it is estimated that 83% of companies will face a crisis that will negatively impact the profitability of the company by 20-30%. The value of enterprise resilience can therefore be measured not only in terms of a moral obligation to a company’s employees or investors, but also in the value it brings to bottom line profits and brand strength. Our expertise lays with published authors on enterprise resilience and a wealth of domestic and international expertise for both large and small organizations. We work embedded within an organization to understand the nuances of how it operates, its tolerance levels and unique requirements in order to tailor a realistic solution for each group.
Every organization, regardless of its size or operating environment should have some form of risk management policy and protocol in place to avoid, mitigate or deal with a crisis or disaster situation; whether it be a pandemic, earthquake, civil disturbance, kidnapping, work place violence, flood or storm, foreign arrest and detention situation, charges of espionage, extortion or intimidation, fraud and corruption, special interest or terrorist group threats, or other natural and manmade risks.
With companies now operating in diverse and unstable regions the risks faced by global operations are increasingly susceptible to high impact, high profile crisis events. Disaster situations may also occur domestically and organizations should be confident that they can identify and respond in an organized and effective manner to these challenges. The development of a comprehensive and sustainable strategy assists organizations in creating a familiar structure and known operating practices and response protocols in order to channel effort, time, money and resources into effective contingency and response efforts – thereby insulating organizations and people from a wide spectrum of threats to brand, operations and personnel.
The RSM Business Continuity Management Plan also enables a company to identify, understand and offset risks prior to their occurrence, as well as allowing companies to operate within business environments in which they would be otherwise prevented from engaging. This approach can also be used to leverage reductions in corporate insurance premiums – offsetting or negating the cost of their development, as well as providing a safe harbor in terms of liability. Business continuity planning can support the company in winning as well as undertaking work through the alignment of threats to mitigation measures – supporting business interests and activities. RSM offers a tier of services to meet small linear company needs, medium sized organizational requirements as well as large multi-national corporations with complex and dynamic risk consulting requirements. Each service will be tailored to meet the needs of unique company requirements.
We provide accompanying and personalized booklets which meet staff safety and security awareness requirements, as well as project or office location Incident Management Plan booklets (in hard and electronic formats) which can be re-branded and provided throughout the organization – including in various languages. We believe such publications offer an immediate road-map to staff to avoid many challenges which might be faced, as well as to often inexperienced local managers in how to establish control of a critical situation from the outset – giving more time to the senior level managers to understand the event and respond accordingly.
RSM has published authors who speak internationally on business continuity, enterprise resilience and crisis management.
RSM believes using pre-defined tools and systems developed during the contingency planning period empowers and supports all managers and staff in dealing most effectively with the immediate impacts and aftereffects of a crisis – protecting people, business interests and brand and liability vulnerabilities. We believe organizations with a robust system in place are more likely to continue business and recover operations than those which seek to build such response protocols while firefighting an event.
