Communication

There are many types of communication, and you most likely use most of them in your business endeavors - crisis or emergency communication, employee communication, social network communication, etc. You may even have plans for all of these. This week, we look at some of the important communication issues and we hope you'll take a look at your plans and see how they might be improved.

How does a company actually communicate in 2015? Very, very carefully. (Item #1)     Find out the proper steps business continuity planners need to take to develop and execute an emergency communications plan. (Item #2)     With all of the advancements in technology, it has become more difficult to justify poor communication. (Item #3)    

Given its important role, crisis communication must be part of an effective business continuity plan, and not come as an improvised afterthought. (Item #4)     Remember that effective employee communication is a crucial component of any comprehensive crisis management strategy and indispensable to minimizing crisis-related damage. (Item #5)     Data security is not one size fits all, nor is a data security communication plan. (Item #6)    

As always, I look forward to hearing about your concerns with regard to business continuity. If there are any topics that you'd like to see covered, email me at [email protected].

Bob Mellinger, President
Attainium Corp

1. The Right Words Can Be Hard To Find

Often it can be challenging to know what to say. This includes both the good times and the not-so-good times. Communication is one of the trickier aspects of being human. You'd think that after so many instances of watching, hearing and reading about others messing things up, that we'd have it all figured out by now. Nope, not really.
http://www.drj.com/articles/online-exclusive/the-right-words-can-be-hard-to-find.html

2. Developing an emergency communications plan: A template for business continuity planners

The business continuity management process contains several important steps. Communicating information during and following a disaster to relevant parties is a key priority. This guide examines an emergency communications plan for business continuity planners, and provides a downloadable template to help you with your emergency communications planning that can be adapted to a variety of incidents.
http://searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com/Developing-an-emergency-communications-plan-A-template-for-business-continuity-planners

3. Emergency Communication Phases Reinforce Business Continuity Plan

The ability to send emergency notifications over any device or platform enables targeted messages to successfully reach and warn large numbers of people about imminent or existing danger, potentially taming an incident or emergency from turning into a crisis or catastrophe. However, every situation is different, and unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all. In order to be able to respond effectively during an incident that requires emergency communication, analysis, planning, preparation, and practice are critical.
http://www.bsminfo.com/doc/emergency-communication-phases-reinforce-business-continuity-plan-0002

4. Crisis Communication: A Key Business Continuity Component

The key is knowing when and how to communicate essential information to keep those you rely on, and those who rely on you, in sync. This article specifically addresses the crisis communication necessary for a business' employees and specific external stakeholders in relation to a business continuity plan.
https://www.disastersafety.org/commercial_maintenance/crisis-communication-key-business-continuity-component/

5. The 10-point guide to effective employee communication during a company crisis

A successful response to a business crisis typically demands making and effectively communicating far-reaching and emotionally difficult decisions while under pressure and perhaps lacking complete or fully accurate information. Proper crisis preparedness planning therefore inevitably calls for putting the necessary organizational structure, processes and tools in place before a crisis hits. Develop, implement and continuously improve a crisis communication strategy and matching crisis communication plan tailored to the company's needs.
https://www.melcrum.com/research/engage-employees-strategy-and-change/top-tips-10-point-guide-effective-employee

6. How to create an effective data security communication plan

There is a need to create value around company data and one way to do this is to ensure that the workforce knows and understands the threats that are out there and the measures that are in place to protect against them. The following are factors for companies to consider when creating an effective data security communication plan.
http://www.csoonline.com/article/2879498/business-continuity/how-to-create-an-effective-data-security-communication-plan.html