[CM] Step 2: Research Your Work

Step 2: Research and Benchmarking 

In this step, the Organisation CM Coordinator and CM project team members will embark to do the following:

Conduct Industry Research

• Research best practices in crisis management within the industry to inform the project strategy.

Benchmarking against Similar Organisations

• Identify and analyze crisis management frameworks that organizations with similar structures or operating environments implement.

Legal and Regulatory Compliance Review

• Engage legal advisors to review and ensure alignment with relevant crisis management laws and regulations.

Useful Resources and Websites

Whether you have some CM background or are a newcomer, many websites will quickly get you up to speed.

In my view, the most useful are the sites for the few most widely used publications in the field,

• Disaster Recovery Journal
  • www.drj.com 
• Contingency Planning and Management
  • www.contingencyplanning.com 
• Continuity Insights
  • www.continuityinsights.com 
• Continuity Central
  • www.continuitycentral.com 

The Disaster Recovery Journal and Continuity Central websites contain articles explicitly aimed at helping Organisation CM Coordinators who want to learn the fundamental business continuity and crisis management planning principles.

There are many organisations, ranging from international to local, where you can network with your peers. Look for their websites, including chat rooms, using search engines with keywords such as BC or DR. These knowledge-based sites contain many articles, profiles and case histories of plans and CMP products, services, and resources.

Learn to Speak the CMP Language

BCMPedia www.bcmpedia.org is the most commonly used one.

Do Your Research

I have often found that an Organisation CM Coordinator need not be an expert in CM planning (CMP). However, he or she must have strong project management skills and working knowledge in all the disciplines involved in the CMP project and the ability to communicate effectively with each CMP team member and direct their efforts.

There is no magic solution to this requirement: it is simply a matter of doing your homework. Each discipline must be researched and studied sufficiently to become comfortable dealing with each CMP team member.

Do Not Reinvent the Wheel!

 There is no requirement for you to build a CM plan from scratch. Many established CM plan models have been built and are available for study and use as the foundation for your CM plan.

Alternatively, you can purchase a CMP writing software package and use it to develop your CM plan. Pick the one that most closely matches your needs. This will help you ensure that your CM plan is consistent with current practices and that you do not leave out essential parts.

I am a strong advocate of using CMP software. However, I am concerned about organisations opting for the software as the panacea to implement their CM plans successfully. Before purchasing such software, doing the necessary research and homework is essential.

Approaches to CMP

Speakers at CM conferences and seminars often criticise traditional approaches to CM as technologically directed because they emphasize only the need to recover the organization's technological and communications platforms, such as the mainframes, data communications, and networks.

The “right” approach is to have corporate-wide CM strategies driven by the need to ensure continued support of the organization's critical business functions and should not be technologically directed.

There are significant discrepancies in the implementation of CMP in the world. For example, the Executive Management of some Asian organisations still insists on the traditional technology-directed approach. The requirement of regulators further worsens the situation.

My caution to Organisation CM Coordinators is that your approach will be viewed as being wrong if it differs from the expectations of your Executive Management. The key is to educate and get them to agree with your CMP methodology before the start of the CM project.

CM Project Management Steps Click to find out more about the detailed requirements for each step
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Goh, M. H. (2016). A Manager’s Guide to Implement Your Crisis Management Plan. Business Continuity Management Specialist Series (1st ed., p. 192). Singapore: GMH Pte Ltd.

 

 

Find out more about Blended Learning CM-300 [CM-3] & CM-5000 [CM-5]

To learn more about the course and schedule, click the buttons below for the CM-3 Blended Learning or CM-300 Crisis Management Implementer course and the CM-5 Blended Learning or CM-5000 Crisis Management Expert Implementer course.

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