I attended an excellent talk by Steve Yates at the Scottish Resilience Conference on Monday
and he was talking about business continuity and the Olympics. The big area he was stressing, was not how good the Olympics business continuity plans were, but whether businesses and public organisations are ready for the disruption caused by the Olympics. I personally thought there would be just some transport disruption in London during the actual three weeks of the games; his message was that the games and surrounding events will have a major impact on all our lives throughout the whole of the country and for much of 2012.

The first point he made was that there are a series of events planned around the Olympics, from
the Radio 1 free music festival in Hackney to the Queens Diamond Jubilee celebrations, all of these will all cause disruption especially in terms of transport. In 2012 there are also other major sporting events such as Wimbledon as well as the Paralympic Games which will again add to the disruption. The sporting venues are not just confined to the Olympic Park but are spread
throughout London from Wembley Arena to Greenwich. There are also a number of venues throughout the UK which I was not aware of, although I had heard of the sailing at Weymouth. There are venues from Hampden Park in Glasgow to Brands Hatch in Kent and from Lee Valley White Water Centre to the Millennium Stadium in Wales. All these event will cause transport disruptions and have an impact on the ability of businesses and public sector organisations to deliver their services to customers and stakeholders. For those who are not situated near a
venue you need to consider how your key suppliers and outsource partners may be affected by the events and that even their suppliers may be affected which could again have an impact on you.

Now and early in the new year is the time to start planning for an event which will undoubtedly
effect all businesses and public sector organisations throughout the United Kingdom and perhaps beyond.