We publish weekly updates from the business continuity world, covering recent news items or reflecting on our travels and experiences with clients.
Charlie addresses topics from a Business Continuity perspective and you might be surprised how much of today’s news relates to BC! Providing valuable insight, Charlie raises critical questions which will surely encourage you to reconsider your Business Continuity plans.
In today’s bulletin, Charlie revisits how organisations can define their Maximum Tolerable Period of Disruption (MTPD) and gives an insight into its importance within our organisations. This week, I have been writing procedures for Databarracks on how we deliver a number of business continuity items. We are moving from delivering one-off business continuity assignments to providing clients with
In today’s bulletin, Charlie discusses all things AI, looking into the risks of using artificial intelligence in the workplace and how we can better prepare for its growing influence. This week, I travelled to London to speak at a conference and, remarkably, I was able to work online throughout the journey by combining the train’s Wi-Fi with my
In today’s bulletin, Charlie discusses the recent fire in Glasgow and the effects it has had on the local community. Although I don’t live in Glasgow itself but in Houston, about 20 miles outside the city, the fire was the talk of the locals and had pushed President Trump and the war with Iran aside as the main
In this bulletin, Charlie discusses how business continuity has evolved in response to COVID‑19, the rise of cyber threats, geopolitical instability (including the Middle Eastern war), and supply chain vulnerabilities, and reflects on whether the profession has the right skills to remain relevant as these risks change. When writing the bulletin “Some Updated Cyber Ransomware Figures” about a
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses the concept of Minimum Viable Business (MVB) and gives an insight into how this can be implemented in our own organisations. I came across the term Minimum Viable Business a couple of weeks ago, I can’t remember where I heard it from, but it resonated with me. It got me thinking: is
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses payment diversion fraud and how organisations can protect themselves from fraudsters aiming to access financial transactions. I receive daily emails from The Record which lists cyber incidents. Yesterday, the headline read ‘Microsoft disrupts RedVDS cybercrime platform behind $40 million in scam losses’. The article went on to say ‘popular cybercriminal subscription service
In his first bulletin of the year, Charlie discusses his business continuity resolutions that he is taking into 2026. In addition to my usual resolutions of going to the gym, losing weight, and reading more books, I thought I would share some business continuity New Year’s resolutions. As they say, if you write them down, you are more
We attended BCI World Hybrid 2025 this week! In today’s bulletin, Charlie shares his experience of the conference and his key takeaways from the event. I came back from BCI World Hybrid yesterday and I thought, as usual, I would share my thoughts on the conference and what it tells us about the business continuity industry. It was
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie looks at Jaguar Land Rover’s recent hack and gives an insight into lessons learned from the event. I have been wanting to write something on JLR for a few weeks, and with them announcing they have got parts of their manufacturing sites up and running, I thought it was a good time to
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses how organisations can better prepare themselves by categorising potential risks to their operations, and looks at the importance of being prepared for all types of risk. Business continuity has always had an uneasy relationship with risk. Yes, we recognise that risk is important and needs to guide what we prioritise to recover,
It’s the last day of the BCI’s Education Month! In today’s bulletin, Charlie writes about the importance of mentoring in learning about business continuity and shares his experiences of the use of AI in the business continuity profession. It is exciting to be on the cusp of a revolution where, as some say, the change will be as
In today’s bulletin, Charlie discusses the webinars that were showcased by the BCI during BCAW and gives an insight into this year’s theme, ‘Empowering Resilience with AI’. This week, I was asked to write my bulletin on BCAW+R 2025 (Business Continuity & Resilience Awareness Week). With two days dedicated to cyber training and the other two spent preparing for
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses tariffs and how businesses can be more resilient to external change and disruption. As an in-house business continuity manager, I’ve always believed there should be a clear distinction between managing crises and incidents—whatever your organisation calls them—and addressing day-to-day or longer-term challenges that could affect operations. If I was still working as
In the latest bulletin, Charlie discusses the introduction of learning theories in exercising and looks into why these theories are useful when conducting an exercise.
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses the usefulness of the UK’s National Risk Register and categorises the risks depending on the area they may affect. A couple of weeks ago, we had a two-day ‘away day’ at PlanB Consulting, looking at our plans for the next year but also reviewing our service delivery to ensure that all consultants
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses what a polycrisis is, what its characteristics are defined as, and its impact on business continuity practitioners and crisis managers. The media and press are increasingly focusing on the new Trump presidency and its potential impact on the world. There is much speculation on what he will do, what he won’t do,
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie gives an insight into how the event went and discusses the main business continuity themes throughout the conference. This week, I have been at the BCI World Hybrid Event in London, and I thought I would share what I thought of the event and also what it says about the state of business
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses the future of AI within the business continuity industry, with a particular focus on Business Impact Analysis and how it has the potential to revolutionise business continuity processes. Over the last couple of weeks, whenever I’ve been in the car, I’ve been listening to the BBC Sounds podcast The Coming Storm. It
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses the BCI’s CBCI Certification course and how it has changed from when it was first developed, and discusses his recent experience teaching a classroom CBCI course in Glasgow. You aren’t meant to forget your first time, but I can’t remember the first time I taught the Business Continuity Institute’s (BCI) CBCI training
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie looks at different news platforms and gives his experience of comments left on LinkedIn for recent D-Day tributes. To date, I have contentiously avoided getting TikTok on my phone. Not for any moral reason, but as my youngest daughter Phoebe said, “Daddy, you will enjoy it too much.”. I can lose the odd
In today’s bulletin, Charlie looks at the importance of business continuity plans in schools and discusses some of the events that schools should be planning for. Over the last few weeks, I have been working with an Academy Trust that has a number of primary and secondary schools, and I thought this week I would share what I
In today’s bulletin, Charlie discusses the devastating earthquake that has hit Taiwan and highlights the importance of ‘lessons learned’ after a disaster. We are accustomed to witnessing mass casualties from earthquakes. The Turkey earthquake, reported to have killed 56,000 people in February 2023 and the Morocco earthquake in September of the same year, which claimed approximately 3,000 lives,
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie reflects on his recent Scottish Continuity Group conference and talks about the potentials of artificial intelligence (AI) in our organisations. This week, I attended the Scottish Continuity Group conference, which had a great turnout and featured numerous excellent speakers. Thanks to the organisers, it was a well-run and organised event. It was particularly
This week, Charlie discusses the use of drones and the disruption they can cause, and looks at why they are being used more frequently. A couple of ideas inspired me to write this bulletin this week. I have been closely following the Ukraine war, especially as I am ex-military and have been fascinated by the rapidly changing use
The first bulletin of the year highlights some trends that Charlie thinks will show up this year, and he gives some advice to organisations on how to be prepared for these. Happy New Year to all readers! I hope you were able to have a good break. This is the time of year to look forward to 2024
Charlie discusses the different emergency response and business continuity issues to consider after an incident, and how both teams can communicate efficiently. This week, I have been working with two manufacturing companies that both supply products to the construction industry. I have worked for several manufacturing organisations and have always had to work hard to ensure that
Charlie discusses what business continuity professionals can take away from the recent coronation of King Charles III and talks about how we can improve our business continuity responses. Whether you are a republican, monarchist, or not really concerned either way, you cannot have missed the coronation. Most observers said the whole ceremony went off well, and so this
We’ve been to BCI World Hybrid 2022! In this week’s bulletin, Charlie talks about the highlights from BCI World Hybrid 2022 and discusses the growth in the Business Continuity community. The face-to-face conference was sold out weeks prior to the event, so there is still a strong demand to learn more about business continuity and an interest
If you’re thinking about buying software for your business continuity roll out, this bulletin discusses what you have to be aware of and be ready to deal with before you make the plunge. I am a great fan of business continuity software, I love how your whole BCMS is in one place, you are able to see the
After witnessing a near miss incident during a fishing competition, Charlie reiterates the importance of health and safety checks, risk assessments, and great response plans. A couple of weeks ago, I was involved in a near miss accident at the Isle of Coll fishing competition, so I wanted to share a few thoughts on this incident and another
This week, Charlie needs your help and advice when it comes to RTOs! Read on to learn more about his questions and thoughts regarding the changing world of business continuity. This week, I will be sharing some of my thoughts regarding RTOs as I am slightly struggling, and hope some readers of the bulletin may be able to
In this bulletin, Charlie discusses business continuity in Saudi, where he has been conducting exercises and workshops. This week, I have been in Riyadh delivering a series of workshops, exercises, and business continuity reviews. Therefore, I will be sharing some thoughts on what I have learned. I have been to the country many times before COVID however, this