Vol 685 – Why Every Manager Should Speak Supply Chain

April 18, 2024

The societal and economic spasms of the early 2020s highlighted the crucial role of world-spanning supply chains in the modern global economy. Also, AI, automation, and digital tech will impact the future economy.

Respected MIT professor and author Yossi Sheffi explains that an understanding of how supply chains work, even at a relatively basic level, has always been beneficial to managers in any discipline. However, in today’s complex world, such knowledge has become foundational to running a company. Now, more than ever, managers of all stripes need to have a working knowledge of how supply chains function to ensure that their companies stay competitive in a volatile business environment

Vol 684 – Operational Resilience – Learn to Withstand Disruptions and Continue Operations!

April 4, 2024

Operational resilience is the ability of an organization to continue to operate and deliver its essential services in the event of an operational disruption. This can be caused by a variety of factors, such as natural disasters, technology and third-party failure, cyberattacks, or human error. The Resilience Association Chairman, Steve Yates, breaks it all down.

If you are tasked with operational resilience you will want to read Steve’s meaty resource-filled article. He explains Operational Resilience’s benefits, challenges, key components, and numerous global regulations.

Vol 683 – Transform Cybersecurity Decision-Making with Cyber Risk Quantification

March 21, 2024

As cyberattacks continue rapidly evolving, cybersecurity professionals and business leaders must grapple with increasingly complex — and expensive — incident response. Can cybersecurity risk quantification elevate their decision-making, improving their resiliency to threats?

Cyber risk quantification is the process of evaluating the potential financial impact of successful cyberattacks on an organization. It relies on various mathematical and probability-based calculations to generate a quantifiable measure of risk. You use data to generate and assign values to previously identified cyber threats, enabling you to categorize them.

Zac Amos explains how this works.

Vol 682 – The Power of Design-Build in a Post-Disaster Loss

March 7, 2024

In a major post-disaster loss, delivery speed is critical. Almost 50% of the claim cost is spent on business interruption. Companies know that for every hour or day they are shut down, a value of loss can be calculated. Finding new ways to reduce downtime makes a lot of sense.

Business continuity professionals may be called upon to help think through ”What-if” events that could cripple the company. Design-build construction replaces the traditional method which award separate contracts for design and construction. Design-build’s benefits in a post-loss environment should be considered during a holistic review. Recovery and reconstruction expert Jim Wills discusses outlines key issues and benefits.

Vol 681 – 10 Tips to Fight Compliance Fatigue

February 22, 2024

Compliance fatigue occurs when the constant pressure to meet regulatory and policy requirements overwhelms individuals or teams. Symptoms include decreased engagement, cutting corners and a general sense of burnout toward compliance tasks. In fields like business continuity, cybersecurity and crisis management, the stakes are high, and the regulatory landscape is ever-changing. This constant state of alert and adaptation can lead to fatigue.

In this article, Zac Amos shares actionable strategies to combat compliance fatigue. He discusses how to simplify processes, automate tasks, foster a supportive culture, and integrate compliance seamlessly into daily operations.

Vol 680 – 10 Predictions Impacting Organizational Resilience in 2024

February 9, 2024

Each year DRI makes ten annual predictions across a broad band of subject areas, all of which are resilience related. The “2024 Predictions Report” extrapolates the findings of the 2023 Trends Report into a set of predictions and discussion points.

The predictions follow the issues identified as important in the “DRI Annual Trends Report” discussed last month. Predictions usually cover technical, social, environmental, political, economic, health, legal and regulatory issues. Lyndon Bird’s executive summary highlights 10 key areas and provides a summary of the discussions found in the report.

Vol 679 – The 9th Annual Global Risk and Resilience Trends Report

January 18, 2024

Back in 2015 numerous consultancy and insurance reports looked at global business risks and made predictions for the year ahead. The reports didn’t utilize experience and expertise within the resilience community.

This was the catalyst for the DRI International’s 1st Annual Trends and Predictions report based on the opinions of the professional resilience community — “for the profession, by the profession” – business continuity, disaster recovery, crisis management, emergency management and eventually enterprise risk management and cyber security. Fast forward to 2023/24 and the launch of the 9th annual report across all industries and sectors. Lyndon Bird shares report highlights.

Vol 678 – Fighting the Mentality of “Check the Box” Resilience

December 7, 2023

The work of resilience professionals can be difficult. Between the ever-changing threat landscape, the increasing reliance on technology, and the constant need to keep stakeholders engaged, the last thing needed is for leadership teams to have a check-the-box mentality.

Resilient Journey podcast host, Mark Hoffman, is joined by thought leader Jason Hoss in Episode 112. They discuss the challenges that resilience professionals often face when working for an organization that has a check-the-box approach to business continuity.

Vol 677 – Polycrisis – The Current State of the World

November 16, 2023

Global uncertainty over the past few years has birthed several new or recently rediscovered words. The first word was “permacrisis”, the Collins Dictionary’s word of the year for 2022. This year the world is abuzz with the latest new word – Polycrisis.

Global risks have shifted with a significant focus on three issues. Esteemed crisis management specialist, Regina Phelps, explains “polycrisis” and lays out actions that resilience professionals should be doing in response.

Vol 676 – AI Tops Concerns of Global Tech Leaders

November 2, 2023

2,104 tech leaders have weighed in on a global survey. Their input has culminated in a report with numerous findings in 5 key areas.

The 25th annual Nash Squared Digital Leadership Report has revealed numerous findings in 5 key areas — Generative AI Demands, Tech Investments, Inclusion and Hybrid Working, Tech Talent Shortage, and Tech Leaders on the Board. This executive summary outlines key issues in the 5 areas

Vol 675 – Cybercriminals Target Businesses During Natural Disasters

October 19, 2023

According to one cyber threat intelligence director, there is almost always an uptick in cyber-attack attempts after a major disaster event.

Natural catastrophes create chaos and uncertainty. People are not focusing on basic cybersecurity best practices or refreshing their network’s security controls but are instead spending their energy on recovering from the event. Zac Amos explains 5 ways organizations can defend themselves from cyber-attacks following a natural disaster.

Vol 674 – No more BIAs? No more Plans?

October 5, 2023

How do you respond to someone who challenges the very foundation of your profession?

What do you say to someone who tells you that your methodology is not only wrong, but that it shouldn’t exist in the first place?

Mark Hoffman, host of the Resilient Journey podcast, had an interesting discussion with business continuity professional, antagonist, and overall contrarian Mark Armour. In Episode 99 Mark explains “adaptive business continuity” and why he doesn’t like BIAs, plans or documentation. His approach would forego the methodology in favor of principles. It was a friendly and respectful debate. The host discovered that the two even agreed on a few things!