Stronger together: involve all departments to win this war
There is something that I have been meaning to write about for a while and it is how some departments such as Health & Safety or Logistics have becoming among the most demanded departments during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is too soon to draw conclusions, but by reading the latest BCI reports on the COVID-19, we can see how the perception of these departments has been changing.
In previous BCI Horizon Scan Reports, IT and telecom outages were the most reported causes of disruptions for organizations. Even Security was cited before the health incidents. I do not think that we could predict the current Pandemic, but I think that companies that had a good Business Continuity Management System and in particular, good Business Impact Analysis (BIA) as well at least a basic Pandemic plan, have been more prepared to face the consequences of the current pandemic.
Nonetheless, good business continuity plans are not enough to face such a long disruption. We are prepared for making our most prioritized activities ready for a high impact (with a low likelihood which is the case) but without the collaboration of departments, such as Health & Safety, our operations could not face such a long and disruptive crisis. And let’s face it, these departments are not usually among the most consulted during the BIA phase or being called to participate in implementing any solution during the BCP phase. And if we can draw a lesson at this stage is that they should be. This year’ BCAW theme is ‘We are Stronger Together’. A very good theme choice if we look at the necessary collaboration among the critical and non-critical departments to overcome the current COVID-19 crisis.
In other words, any department cannot be left aside from the BCMS, whether in terms of analysis or during the response and recovery phases. Enhancing personal collaboration from our department is key to create synergies and get better responses from other departments. Top management involvement is always necessary but if we, all departments, work together, their work will be easier in terms of decision making and even for accountability. Yes, let us be stronger together to win this war.
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About the author
Macarena Rodriguez Garcia
BCM & ITSCM Consultant, EMEA
I am a Business Continuity & IT Service Continuity (BCM &
ITSCM) consultant at Getronics. Member of the Business Continuity
Institute (MBCI) since September 2016, I also chaired the BCI Spain
Chapter since its creation (2020) till 2023. My previous experience
working for the European Commission helped me to become a specialist
in training and exercising staff to be prepared in the event of a
real-life disaster or major disruption. I believe my background in
communication has proven to be key to provide and implement raising
awareness actions and promotional material to understand better what a
BCMS is and how to be involved to make an organization more resilient.
I am a true believer of the European Union and passionate on the
topic. Besides, I am fluent in Spanish, English, French and
Italian.
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Actualmente trabaja como consultora de
continuidad del negocio y continuidad del servicio IT (BCM e ITSCM)
para Getronics y lo hago desde 2019. Soy Miembro del Business
Continuity Institute (MBCI) desde septiembre de 2016 y además de
presider, ayudé a crear el BCI Spain Chapter. Acabé esta etapa de
voluntariado en 2023. Mi experiencia en el mismo puesto en la Comisión
Europea desde 2014 me ha permitido especializarme en capacitar y
ejercitar al personal para prepararse en caso de desastre o disrupción
continuada. Además, soy especialista en comunicación lo que me ha
ayudado a implementar acciones de sensibilización y material
promocional para ayudar a comprender mejor qué es la continuidad de
negocio y cómo ser partícipes con el objetivo de mejorar la
resiliencia organizacional. También soy una apasionada de la Unión
Europea y su construcción y habla español, inglés, francés e italiano
con fluidez.
