Top Business Continuity Trends for 2025
2025 is likely to see the intensification of...
Budgeting for Resilience: How to Obtain Funding for Business Continuity in 2025
It’s unfortunate that more organizations do not...
Beyond Headquarters: Why Every Location Needs a Crisis Management Team
If emergencies only occurred at headquarters,...
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Crisis Managers
The recent hurricanes in the southeastern U.S....
Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2024: Renew Your Effort to Fortify Your Digital Defenses
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and a...
Exploring DORA: The EU’s Excellent New Digital Resilience Standard
The European Union’s tough new regulation...
Beyond the Crib Sheet: Basic Preparations for Improving Your Resilience
In my last post, I talked about how creating a...
In an Ancient Land, Glimpsing the Future of Business Continuity
The Middle East is known for its ancient history...
Weathering the Storm: Achieving Resilience in an Age of Extreme Weather
The rise of extreme weather is severely impacting...
Introducing the Continuity Crib Sheet: What to Do if You Have No BC Plan
For companies that are completely lacking in a...
Operational Risks: How They Can Hurt You and How to Manage Them
Relatively few organizations today take a...
Preparing a Document Repository
A Business Continuity Program generates a lot of...
Do You Need Business Continuity Training Or Testing?
It happens all the time: Organizations invest...
When is the Best Time to Establish a Training & Awareness Program?
Best time to establish a Training and Awareness...
Do the Right Thing: Start a BCM Program
Is your business part of the 48% that lack a BC...
Homeward Bound: 7 Questions to Answer Before Sending Staff Home to Work
Most people think it’s easy for employees to work...
Are You a Leader in BCM Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)?
If you’re a BCM Practitioner, you’ve probably...
Compliance Risk: The New Definition
Assessing Business Continuity Management (BCM)...
Getting the Most Out of Your BCM Consultant: Do’s and Don’ts
Over my twenty years as a business continuity...
What is the Value of Operational Risk Management?
Most companies only test their backups after a...
IT Risk Mitigation
Risks to data include not only natural disasters...
Operational Risk Consultant: A Cool Job of the Future
Our current environment of rising global...
Aligning Business Recovery Efforts with IT Disaster Recovery
In many organizations, Information Technology...
Vendor Risk Management – Where to Start
Vendor management gets a lot of attention these...
Planning a Workplace Violence Mock Disaster Scenario
At MHA, we plan, develop and implement many mock...
How Long Should Your BIA Interview Take to Complete?
We have all been involved in long, drawn out BIA...
Practicing the Crisis Communication Plan
As they say, “practice makes perfect,” however,...
A Little Help: How to Select a BCM Consultant
Finding a good business continuity management...
Defining Tasks and Assigning Resources for Business Continuity
Once a company has defined mitigation strategies,...
Recovery Options
Each critical business function or process has a...
What’s More Likely – A Catastrophic or Partial Data Center Disruption?
As BCP consultants, we are always asked as to...
People, Process, and Technology
In our last post we took a minute to look at how...
Training is Not Optional
When a disaster strikes, people resort to...
Disaster Recovery vs. Business Recovery – Business Continuity 101
A common point of confusion for new BCM...
Money Matters: The Importance of Being Financially Prepared for a Business Disruption
We talk a lot about the need to mitigate the...
Disaster Recovery in 2018: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
The year 2018 continues to see big changes in the...
Kill the Zombies, or How to Get More From Your DR Exercises
Has your organization ever been attacked by...
Shark Attacks vs. Sunburn: Preparing for the Most Likely Problems
It must be human nature to worry more about...
8 Dos and 1 Don’t for Conducting Disaster Recovery Tests
Hope is a great quality for a baseball team in a...
Standard Issue: Is Your BCM Standard Making Things Worse?
Sometimes business continuity or BCM standards...
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Managing Risk but Were Afraid to Ask
In business continuity, risk is at the center of...
Become a Master of Disaster: Educate Yourself With These Key BC Resources
Increase your business continuity (BC) knowledge...
The Face in the Mirror: The Importance of Truly Knowing Your Own BC Program
Too many business continuity professionals lack a...
How Working from Home During an Emergency Is Different
There is a big difference between casually...
Have Yourself a Careful Little Christmas: Holiday Safety Tips from MHA
The holiday season, with its festive atmosphere,...
Crisis Response in Today’s Breakneck World
In today’s post, we’ll lay out some crisis...
10 Steps You Can Take to Prepare for the Threat of Workplace Violence
Unfortunately, recent news events have shown that...
Not If But When: Is Your Company Ready for the Next Global Pandemic?
Many experts believe that the chance of an...
Helping Hands: What BC Consultants Do For You
A new year means new challenges for your...
Hanging Tough: The Mental Game in Business Continuity
Just like athletes, business continuity...
Go Pro: Every BCM Practitioner Should Know About DRI’s “Professional Practices”
It’s easy to get lost in the weeds in talking...
Rationale vs. Reality: The Bad Reasons Businesses Give for Skimping on BCM
Most companies that underinvest in business...
5 Myths of Contemporary Crisis Management
Many areas of business continuity are the...
For Want of a Nail: The Importance of Meticulous Execution in BC and IT/DR
We often see companies devise excellent...
After the Smoke Clears: 7 Things to Do Once an Emergency Is Over
The end of an emergency is often the beginning of...
How to Be a Mock Jock: Advice on Facilitating a Disaster Exercise
The job of facilitating a mock disaster exercise...
The Plan that Time Forgot: The Importance of Protecting Your Business Processes
When it comes to protecting your business,...
Attack of the Black Swans: When Strange Things Happen
Every day, an organization somewhere is impacted...
What Comes Naturally: Dealing with Disasters Made by Mother Nature
As a rule, we recommend that business continuity...
Disaster Recovery 101: Don’t Make This Common Mistake
Responding to a disaster is a three-phase...
You Better Shop Around: How to Obtain Relevant Crisis Management Training
Are you interested in getting training for you...
Ready or Not, Here It Comes: 5 Steps to Protecting Your Company Against Coronavirus
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control have...
So You Want to Be a Risk Mitigator: 5 Tips to Help You Master the Craft
One of the most important roles business...
Conduct an IT Wellness Check: Make Sure Your Tech Systems Are Healthy
The coronavirus pandemic presents health...
Emerging from the Lockdown: 6 Things to Think About for the Next Phase
The coming weeks will see most organizations...
Home to Stay? Adapting to the Next Permanent Workplace
Many observers think the COVID-19 pandemic might...
Back in the Saddle: Resuming Regular BCM Activities
Business continuity professionals have been...
Demonstrating Readiness: Business Continuity in Times of Social Unrest
A vigorous social movement, no matter how...
The Great Inspection: Identifying Likely Future Common BCM Problems
Over the past six months, we have talked with...
You Still Need to Drill: IT/DR Testing Is as Important as Ever
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many...
Halloween Edition: True Stories of BCM Horror
The approach of Halloween reminds us that...
Boutique BCM Firms: Good Things Come in Small Packages
Companies seeking help with their business...
How Pandemic Fatigue Poses a New Risk for Business
These days everyone is talking about pandemic...
Silver Lining: Could a Negative Year Bring Positive Changes to BCM?
Even horrible events can sometimes lead to a few...
8 Oversights That Can Bring Your Operations to a Standstill
Events in Texas this week drew attention to what...
Meeting the Standard: The 3 Scenarios Encountered in Complying With BCM Standards
Many people are confused about what it means to...
“Pay Up or Else”: How to Be Ready for a Ransomware Attack
Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has...
Know Your Gaps: Manage Residual Risk to Keep Your Company Safe
Over the past 18 months, most organizations have...
Get Out the Map: Why Your BCM Program Needs a Roadmap
Too many business continuity management programs...
Table Service: 8 Ways Tabletop Exercises Can Benefit Your Company
Tabletop exercises are commonly associated with...
The Best Policy: The Core Element of a Good BCM Program Is Honesty
You can’t have a good business continuity...
Hit or Myth: 5 Common Misconceptions About IT/disaster recovery
One definition of a myth is something you know...
The BCM Pro’s Role in Managing Social Media During a Crisis
The business continuity management professional...
Helping Your Organization Retain Its Pandemic Survival Skills
Sooner or later, the pandemic will ease up and...
How to Help Your Organization Get Through a Ransomware Attack
Ransomware attacks are increasing in frequency...
What Service Providers Need to Know About Supply Chain Risk Management
Many service providers tune out talk about...
How to Get Business Units to Take Ownership of Their BCM Programs
One challenge familiar to every business...
A Home Away From Home: Crafting a Site Recovery Plan
If a disaster strikes one of your...
After the BIA: Save Time and Money by Fine-Tuning Your Application RTOs
The business impact analysis (BIA) is a great...
Eat the Frog: Tackling the Tough BCM Challenges You Habitually Put Off
Almost every business continuity management...
How to Set Up a Crisis Response Team (and Why You Need One)
Every company should have a crisis response team....
Practice Makes Perfect: How to Be Ready to Handle an Emergency
Many organizations are not well-prepared to...
Omission Accomplished: When Front-Line Workers Are Excluded from BCM Training
Many organizations seem to go out of their way to...
Goodbye to All That: How to Phase Out Your Data Center
Many organizations are considering reducing their...
Learning the Local Culture: BCM Pros Need to Suit Their Programs to the Locality
It’s human nature for people to take the...
Risk Assessment: The Best Way to Identify Your Biggest Threats
The threat and risk assessment or TRA is one of...
BCM Basics: The BC Professional’s Role in Data Protection
This post is part of BCM Basics, a series of...
Resiliency Consulting: Helping Companies Get In Peak Condition
In today’s world, businesses face not only stiff...
BCM Basics: Modern IT/DR Strategies
This post is part of BCM Basics, a series of...
How to Create an Emergency Response Plan
Due to the rise in work-from-home, the last few...
Weird Weather: How to Be Resilient In a Time of Climate Chaos
The rise in extreme weather has not affected the...
Reviewing the Five Types of Risk
The recent announcement of the official end of...
Recovering Right: How to Improve at IT Disaster Recovery
Far from relieving organizations of the...
Three to Get Ready: The 3 Key Areas of Business Continuity
Any organization that invests time and effort...
Signs of an Unreliable IT Architecture
A solid IT architecture keeps your business...
What is Business Continuity? – Business Continuity 101
If you’re new to disaster recovery or risk...
The Three Phases of Disaster Recovery
When disaster strikes, you want to get back to...
BC Practitioner’s Guide to IT Security Concerns
Within their organizations, business continuity...
All About RTOs: What They Are and Why You Have To Get Them Right
The BIA is always a hot topic in business...
The 6 Tasks Every Emergency Plan Should Address
Most organizations do a good job when it comes to...
Using the Incident Command System (ICS): Commanding Performance
Sometimes there is a good reason to reinvent the...
Risk Limitation – Real World Examples
In recent blogs we have discussed various aspects...
Common Business Continuity Disasters
We should always be performing risk analysis,...
Business Continuity or Disaster Recovery Testing and Training Guidelines
Business continuity or disaster recovery...
Creating a Continuity Culture: How Your Organization Can Make Business Continuity a Habit
The past few decades have seen a significant...
Defining Risk Avoidance for a Modern Business Structure
Risk avoidance is the elimination of hazards,...
8 Tips for Building a Good Crisis Management Team
What kind of problems can it cause if your...
A Sample Threat and Risk Assessment: The Case of Acme Widget Corp.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and an...
How to Plan a Mock Disaster Exercise
Given the importance of CM training, I wanted to...
Who Does What: The Most Critical Job Roles in IT Disaster Recovery
There’s a lot more to IT Disaster Recovery than...
Risk Acceptance – Conscious Decision or Ignorance?
Risk Acceptance must be a conscious decision, not...
In Time of Crisis: What to Do in the First 24 Hours
The first 24 hours is the critical period when it...
Dropping the Ball: 6 Common Crisis Response Mistakes
Has your organization ever dropped the ball in...
The Cost of Calamity: How Being Unprepared Can Harm An Organization
It’s important for business continuity...
Beyond Hurricanes: 4 Examples of Recent, Real-Life Business Emergencies
It’s the rare workplace disaster that is dramatic...
BCM Basics: Inherent Risk vs. Residual Risk
This post is part of BCM Basics, a series of...
What About When Communication Methods are Limited?
Do you have plans in place for use when...
The Benefits of a Business Continuity Program
We’ve mentioned multiple times that implementing...
Be Ransomware Resilient: Know How to Operate Manually
A ransomware attack has the potential to leave...
Building an Effective Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Team
In the face of a crisis, the performance and...
Tried and True: These Classic DR Concepts Are As Valid As Ever
At this time of year, hot trends and shiny new...
Data Preservation: What to Include in Your Data Protection Policy
Most companies have solid overall default data...
Vulnerable Vendors: Supplier Weaknesses Put Your Organization at Risk
The SolarWinds hack showed how under-protected...
Safety Zone: 13 Fire & Life Safety Tips for BCM Practitioners
Business continuity practitioners have plenty of...
How to Stop Third-Party Vendors from Becoming Your Achilles’ Heel
Organizations of all sizes are increasingly...
Little Things Mean a Lot: The Value of Micro Mock Disaster Exercises
Miniature mock disaster exercises are a small...
Taking Care of Business: How to Write a Business Recovery Plan
Last time, we looked at how to write recovery...
The Science and Art of Writing an IT/DR Recovery Plan
There are two main aspects to writing a disaster...
Cyber Self-Defense: Prepare for the No. 1 Threat By Taking These Five Steps
Cyberattacks remain the number-one threat to...
The Benefits of Stressing Out: Why You Should Stress Test Your Recovery Plans
In everyday life, stress is usually regarded in a...
Business Continuity Consulting: Now Available in Select-a-Size
Traditionally, business continuity consulting...
Data Loss Is Inevitable: These Tips Will Help You Recover
If Ben Franklin had been around in our day, he...
8 Tips for Facility Security During the Holidays and All Year Long
The holiday season brings a festive atmosphere to...
BC’s Big Four: The Most Disruptive Problems in Business Continuity
In business continuity, there is a gap between...
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Using Business Continuity Templates
Many organizations use templates to help them...
Homefront: The New Hot Zone for BCM Is Employees’ Home Offices
Since the advent of COVID-19 and the shift to...
Critical Assistance: How a Consultant Can Strengthen Your Crisis Management Program
These days most organizations hire third-party...
A Home Away From Home: Crafting a Site Recovery Plan
If a disaster strikes one of your...
Ignoring Cyber Security Warnings: Disrupting the Norm
Despite the continual emergence of new malware,...
Making the Most of the Hybrid Emergency Operations Center
The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has gone...
Continuing to Thrive: A Definition of Business Continuity
If you are new to the world of business...
Sweating the Big Stuff: 5 Things that Really Matter in BCM
Do you know the book “Don’t Sweat the Small...
Today’s Threat Environment: How Vulnerable is Your Business?
Today’s threat environment is more complex than...
Stack Attack: A Brief Guide to the IT Stack for BC Professionals
Business continuity professionals need a minimal...
Your Very First Task: Scout the Business Continuity Territory
So you’ve just been put in charge of business...
Your Crisis Communication Plan: Resources for Professionals.
The rise of the internet and social media has...
Communicating During an Emergency Event
Effective communication can make or break your...
Exercise Smarter: Include 3rd Party Experts In Your Cyber Exercises
Here’s something for your to-do list, if you’re...
The New World of BYOD: How You Can Help Your Organization Stay Safe
One of the biggest trends in business today can...
What BC Professionals Can Do to Help Guard Against Cyberattacks
Recent events in the news as well as trends in my...
How to Create a Budget for Your Business Continuity Program
Okay, everyone, raise your hand if you looked at...
FFIEC: An Introduction to BCM’s Gold Standard
Most business continuity professionals think of...
The Right Way to Write an RFP for Business Continuity Services
When clients issue RFPs for business continuity...
Top 10 Resources to Help You Become a BCM Ninja
We are living in a golden age in terms of the...
Client’s Guide to Hiring a BC Consultant
Bringing in a business continuity (BC) consultant...
Managing Insider Threats: How to Protect Your Organization
Most of our clients believe the greatest threats...
A Realist’s Guide to How AI Can Help with Business Continuity
To hear some people talk, the new AI tools can...
Manual Workarounds & the BCP
In the BCP arena a manual workaround can be...
Business Impact Analysis Sample Questions
Before data collection (via questionnaires,...
RTO and RPO: Making It Simple
RTO and RPO are two of the most important...
Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) Comes of Age
Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) is no...
A Robust Business Continuity Plan in 20 Steps
Contrary to popular belief, a business continuity...
Forming the Business Continuity Management Team
Your business continuity management team or BCM...
Using the A.P.I.E. Methodology to Focus your Crisis Management Team Decision Making and Action Planning
Getting your Crisis Management Team to focus...
Let’s Get Functional: Learning from the CrowdStrike Outage
The global CrowdStrike outage last month is a...
Herrera Unplugged: How to Hamstring Your BC Consultant
Herrera Unplugged is an occasional series in...
Managing Enterprise Risk: Understanding the 8 Risk Domains
In enterprise risk management (ERM), risk is...
The Rise of “Quick and Dirty” DR Testing
Fifteen years ago the prototypical IT disaster...
The Human Factor: BCM Team Roles and Skill Requirements
Knowing what roles should be represented on the...
BCM Basics: “Continuity” Defined
This post is part of BCM Basics, a series of...
Crisis Management Training: Elevate Your Team’s Response Skills
Many executives think practice is for grinds and...
The Times They Are a-Changin’: Adapting to Change as a BCM Professional
Over time, organisms that are capable of adapting...
Gone With the Wind: 12 BCM Practices That Have Become Outdated
The past couple of decades have seen huge changes...
A BC Consultant’s View of the Risks of Generative AI
These days everyone is talking about the risks of...
BCM Basics: The Strategic Side of Crisis Management
This post is part of BCM Basics, a series of...
The Retro Revolution: Why Manual Workarounds Are a BC Must
Because technology is vulnerable to...
The ABCs of ERM: The Rise of Enterprise Risk Management
Events of the last twenty years have thrust...
Risk Control Matrix: Why You Should Employ a Risk Management Matrix
One of the best tools for assessing and reducing...
About Time: Deciding When to Start Your RTO Countdown
Many organizations lack a clear, recognized...
Staying Current: Why You Need to Keep Your BCM Plans Up to Date
Many organizations bring great energy to the job...
Checking It Twice: The Corporate Risk Mitigation Checklist
In recent posts, we’ve been talking about how...
Eight Is Enough: The 8 Skills That Will Enable You to Thrive as a BCM Professional
The job boards are lighting up with ads for...
Every Single Day: Make Risk Management Part of Your Company’s Culture
The recent blockage of the Suez Canal was a rare...
BCM Basics: The 5 Types of Risk and How to Mitigate Them
This post is part of BCM Basics, a series of...
Mark My Words: Commonly Confused Business Continuity Terms
Many people who are new to business continuity...
The Risk Management Process: Manage Uncertainty, Then Repeat
This post outlines the risk management process...
What to Include in Your Crisis Management Plan
The heart of any crisis management program is the...
Crisis Management Exercise Examples – A Review of Real Exercises
Over the past several weeks we have discussed...
8 Bad Things: The Most Common Business Continuity Threats
People in business continuity talk a lot about...
The Cloud Is Not a Magic Kingdom: Misconceptions About Cloud-Based IT/DR
Many business continuity professionals think of...
