Background Whenever we develop a plan, we are attempting to predict the future. We are claiming that by executing a series of steps, we will achieve a desired outcome at some point in the future. Unfortunately, predicting the future is an uncertain business at the best of times. It involves making assumptions about how things will…
Author Archives: Gareth Howell
Who has access to your systems?
Do you change system passwords when an IT person leaves? If not, why not? An article in today’s Register highlights the need to have a Leavers’ policy within all organisations and for that policy to be enforced. The article relates a recent court case where an ex-employee logged into his previous employer’s computer network and…
Does your Business Continuity Plan have one of these?
A Risk Matrix should form the core of your Business Continuity Plan The image above shows an extract from Suffolk County Council’s Community Risk Register (CRR) in the form of a matrix. (Click to see a larger version) It shows the probability and impact of a number of potential events that might create an adverse…
Why you need to engage a telephone answering service
I just received a well-timed email from the excellent people at telephone-answering.biz who answer my ‘phone if I’m not around or busy. The salient paragraph reads: When bad weather is predicted remember that by diverting your lines to us before you leave the office, if you are unable to get in then we can still…
Would you know what to do if…
Business Continuity Planning is about knowing what to do when something bad happens There are many definitions of Business Continuity Planning, but the essence is that people must know how to react when something untoward happens in the business. That way, they can take immediate action to: ensure everybody and everything is safe; prevent…
Case Study – why business continuity is more than disaster recovery
This study illustrates why business continuity is more than just disaster recovery. Although business continuity developed from the IT focused world of disaster recovery, it covers a much wider scope. An over concentration on IT can be short sighted, as this case study illustrates. The subject The subject of the study is a medium sized…
I get knocked down, but I get up again!
Knowing that you can restore your website quickly brings enormous peace of mind and keeps you in business When did you last have to restore a functioning website? Thanks to an unwanted guest last night, I had to perform a full restore of my website this morning. You may have noticed a somewhat changed look…
Why do people risk their business survival?
Survival of your business should be of paramount importance, so why do so few invest in Business Continuity? Humans are inherent risk takers. They are also optimists on the whole. It’s therefore not surprising that business owners fail to take planning for Business Continuity seriously. I was listening to The Today programme on BBC Radio…
Tip – Have your “Grab Bag” ready
Incidents and disasters are unexpected – by definition. You aren’t going to get any warning of the need to execute your emergency response and incident management plans and you won’t have time to gather together the things you need to be able to execute the plans. Therefore, it is important that you have prepared for…
Stay calm under pressure
I love the smell of lycopodium in the morning It’s probably not the case anymore, but as I understand it, Lycopodium was used as a fingerprint revealer by the Police. I mention this because I woke up this morning to find that my car had been broken into whilst parked in Manchester and it was…
Author Archives: Gareth Howell
Risk Management 101 – what is risk and why do we need to manage it
Background Whenever we develop a plan, we are attempting to predict the future. We are claiming that by executing a series of steps, we will achieve a desired outcome at some point in the future. Unfortunately, predicting the future is an uncertain business at the best of times. It involves making assumptions about how things will…
Who has access to your systems?
Do you change system passwords when an IT person leaves? If not, why not? An article in today’s Register highlights the need to have a Leavers’ policy within all organisations and for that policy to be enforced. The article relates a recent court case where an ex-employee logged into his previous employer’s computer network and…
Does your Business Continuity Plan have one of these?
A Risk Matrix should form the core of your Business Continuity Plan The image above shows an extract from Suffolk County Council’s Community Risk Register (CRR) in the form of a matrix. (Click to see a larger version) It shows the probability and impact of a number of potential events that might create an adverse…
Why you need to engage a telephone answering service
I just received a well-timed email from the excellent people at telephone-answering.biz who answer my ‘phone if I’m not around or busy. The salient paragraph reads: When bad weather is predicted remember that by diverting your lines to us before you leave the office, if you are unable to get in then we can still…
Would you know what to do if…
Business Continuity Planning is about knowing what to do when something bad happens There are many definitions of Business Continuity Planning, but the essence is that people must know how to react when something untoward happens in the business. That way, they can take immediate action to: ensure everybody and everything is safe; prevent…
Case Study – why business continuity is more than disaster recovery
This study illustrates why business continuity is more than just disaster recovery. Although business continuity developed from the IT focused world of disaster recovery, it covers a much wider scope. An over concentration on IT can be short sighted, as this case study illustrates. The subject The subject of the study is a medium sized…
I get knocked down, but I get up again!
Knowing that you can restore your website quickly brings enormous peace of mind and keeps you in business When did you last have to restore a functioning website? Thanks to an unwanted guest last night, I had to perform a full restore of my website this morning. You may have noticed a somewhat changed look…
Why do people risk their business survival?
Survival of your business should be of paramount importance, so why do so few invest in Business Continuity? Humans are inherent risk takers. They are also optimists on the whole. It’s therefore not surprising that business owners fail to take planning for Business Continuity seriously. I was listening to The Today programme on BBC Radio…
Tip – Have your “Grab Bag” ready
Incidents and disasters are unexpected – by definition. You aren’t going to get any warning of the need to execute your emergency response and incident management plans and you won’t have time to gather together the things you need to be able to execute the plans. Therefore, it is important that you have prepared for…
Stay calm under pressure
I love the smell of lycopodium in the morning It’s probably not the case anymore, but as I understand it, Lycopodium was used as a fingerprint revealer by the Police. I mention this because I woke up this morning to find that my car had been broken into whilst parked in Manchester and it was…
