Blog Archive

Common Crisis Lessons Visible Within the Ukraine Conflict

While in the midst of an international conflict, Charlie comments on the lessons we can all learn from the crisis in Ukraine. I couldn’t go through this week without reflecting on the conflict in Ukraine. What I will be doing is identifying some of the features in the response which are common to many disasters

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Crisis Communications – Do You Have a Team?

Charlie lists his suggestions for organising your incident management to include communications roles, and what that may look like. I thought I would leave events in Ukraine to the newspapers and TV this week, and talk about crisis communications teams. Over the last six months, we have been conducting lots of exercises, cyber being one

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9 Risks and an Opportunity in Response to Events in Ukraine

With the news today of Russian troops moving into the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk I thought I would share some thoughts with readers of the PlanB Consulting newsletter, on some risks to consider and to plan for. The risk to consider are:1. If you still have employees in the region, have you planned to

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Hurry Up and Wait…

Waiting is an underrated skill. In the army, one of the concepts we were always working towards was “hurry up and wait”. The concept is that we should be rapidly moving from one location to the next, usually very early in the morning. Then when we have arrived at the next location, wait around for

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Case Study Zouma: Don’t Mess With Cats…

This week, Charlie comments on how Raith Rovers and West Ham (Zouma) have handled their recent PR incidents, and what we as business continuity professionals can take away from that. I am not a big fan of football being a rugby man myself, so I am a little surprised to find myself writing about football

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Boris, Watt and the Footballer

Charlie discusses the three biggest headlines dominating the news this past week! He covers topics from Boris to BrewDog and football. Kim and I went to Cheltenham last week to help our daughter settle into her new flat. Since we travelled on Friday, I decided to take a week off writing the bulletin. One thing

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February Newsletter

PLANB FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER Cyber Scotland Week: Free PlanB Ransomware Webinar ‘To pay or not to pay?’, that is the question…What should you do after a ransomware cyber incident? Charlie will talk through the pros and cons of paying a ransom and what factors senior managers should take into account when making the decision in his webinar

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Travel Disruptions

Travel disruptions seem to be almost commonplace now – between countries closing at a moment’s notice due to pandemic restrictions, to natural disasters like the Tonga volcano eruption halting air travel.  As the world ‘reopens’ for business, many of our executives are dusting off their passports and heading out once more, but how prepared is your

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Ransomware Negotiation Tactics

Charlie highlights the best advice from a great podcast all about ransomware negotiation. Read on to learn all about the best practices when it comes to negotiation. At lunchtime, I try to go out for a walk to get some exercise and fresh air, otherwise, I find that I can go for days without leaving

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Verisimilitude and its Importance in Exercises

In today’s bulletin, Charlie explains how he creates excellent exercises for organisations to use and play out using verisimilitude. Learn how to engage your employees and create memorable business continuity exercises. This week I have been running a SIMEX exercise, and over the past three days, I have been producing collateral, injects and simulated media

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Reflecting & Looking Ahead

This year has certainly felt far too like 2020 for my liking!  The challenges of COVID, travel disruption, and hybrid working have become ‘normal’ for us all, but as is my tradition at this time of year, I would like to focus on the opportunities that 2021 has brought us, as we spend too much time focusing

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Storm Arwen: Lessons Re-Identified?

This week Charlie discusses Storm Arwen, the cycle of lessons following an incident and why business continuity professionals need to keep an eye on incidents at all times. I almost managed to completely miss Storm Arwen. Firstly, as I live on the West Coast of Scotland, which was not as badly hit as the East

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Hints and Tips for Running SIMEX Exercises

After delivering a number of SIMEX exercises in the past three months, Charlie shares the learning points from these, along with helpful tips for effective SIMEX exercises. What is a SIMEX? A SIMEX is a type of exercise which involves an incident management team or teams responding to an unfolding scenario. This exercise is unique

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Crisis Support Teams – What are they & do I need one?

Creating an effective crisis management team can be complex as you have to take many factors into consideration. In this bulletin, Charlie outlines his thoughts on creating a crisis support team, and what their functions and roles could be. Four years ago I started working on my PhD with the University of Glasgow. After a

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Learning Points From the SEPA Cyber-Attack

Charlie lists the key points that you can learn, from the SEPA cyber-attack that occurred last year. He discusses what is important and how to ask yourself these questions to make sure you and your organisation are always prepared. Keen readers of the bulletin will remember when I wrote a number of bulletins commenting on

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Comments on the Yorkshire Cricket Club Racism Crisis

Have you given any thought to what your company would do if they were accused of wrongdoing and suddenly in a reputational crisis? This week, Charlie discusses what business continuity professionals should take away from the Yorkshire Cricket Club scandal, and points to consider when thinking about your own company. For the past year and

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Wicked Problems – What Do I Need To Know?

Charlie discusses the theory of wicked problems, what it means for business continuity professionals and how we are able to implement this idea into our plans. This week I wanted to share with you all an academic theory around wicked problems. I came across this term during my reading on crisis management, but until very

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Is Business Continuity One of the Victims of COVID?

In today’s bulletin, Charlie discusses his thoughts on the industry that is business continuity and how he believes COVID has negatively impacted it. Nothing particular in the news piqued my interest this week, therefore, I decided to give my thoughts on ‘Is Business Continuity One of the Victims of COVID?’. I think in a number

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Our Work with Aruba’s Water Suppliers

We have been proudly working with WEB Aruba to help them create crisis management plans and run exercises. Here is their press release on our latest exercise. WEB Aruba organises ‘water rationing plan’ exercise How prepared are we in the event that water production and distribution comes to a stop at WEB? This week, the

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PlanB Consulting Finalists for Best Cyber Breakthrough

We are pleased to announce that we have been shortlisted in the ‘Best Cyber Breakthrough’ category for the 2021 Scottish Cyber Awards. Organised by The Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) and now in its fifth year, the awards recognise and celebrate stand-out individuals and organisations making a positive impact in Scotland’s cyber security sector. Jude

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Fantasy Crisis Communications – Prince Andrew

In today’s bulletin, Charlie dives into the Prince Andrew court case and the communication issues surrounding it. Discussing the importance of branding, strategy and response, not only in this case, but in all crisis management cases. My daughter, Phoebe, is rather good at knowing who’s who in rugby and in last year’s 6 Nations she

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Embedding BC for a More Resilient Future

As it is BCI Education Month, this week Charlie discusses the need for embedding business continuity to create a more resilient future, using examples of scenarios that are happening right now across the world. ‘Embedding Business Continuity for a more Resilient Future’ was a title given to us for BCI Education Month and I promised

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Dealing with Anniversaries

Charlie discusses how companies should be commemorating and including the anniversaries of traumatic events within their business continuity plans, whilst keeping in mind how anniversaries such as these will also affect your employees. Last week it was 20 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York. The commemorations that followed got me thinking about

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