Services Conseils RDI Inc has just received a nomination for the “Business Continuity Management Planning Software of the Year” by CIR Magazine (Continuity Insurance & Risk).

This award will be presented to the company whose entry demonstrates that the software is of innovative and original design. This category will recognize the software developer that has done the most for companies of all sizes to improve their continuity management whether in the public or private sector.

The Business Continuity Awards recognize those business continuity, security, resilience and risk professionals whose innovative strategies and industry savvy make them stand out above the rest, and has been for 14 years.

Judged by an independent panel of experts for exceptional performance, service and results in this dynamic industry, the winners in this year’s 20 categories will be honored and awarded at a gala dinner and ceremony on May 30th – an evening that brings together industry leaders for a night of networking and celebration.

For more information on  “The Business Continuity Awards 2012″ click here.

Here are the nominees:

• ClearView Continuity
• COOP Systems
• eBRP Suite
• Phoenix Shadow-Planner
• Recovery Planner RPX
• Services Conseils RDI
• Plan Management, Vocal

We will provide you with an update soon!

It’s going to happen some day: A key employee is badly injured in an accident; a power outage knocks out your computers; a tornado takes out your warehouse. Unexpected emergencies can momentarily shut down operations, or even worse, put you out of business for weeks and force your customers to go elsewhere–and stay there. Are you prepared for this? It’s not as difficult as you think. Here’s how to plan for the inevitable:

Step 1: Determine what can go wrong. The first thing you should do is complete what’s commonly referred to as a vulnerability or risk assessment. This assessment will identify what could go wrong, the effect on your business if something does go wrong, and what priority you should take in minimizing your risk exposure. During this assessment, you should:

• Learn the threats and risks your business faces. Threats are anything that could happen to your people, processes, infrastructure or reputation, including natural threats (hurricanes and tornados), technological threats (machinery malfunctions), or human threats (stealing).

• Once you’ve identified the possible threats, determine how vulnerable you are to them. How reliable is your data backup system in the event of a power outage? Are your employees properly trained for an earthquake? What about your security system–how capable are you of preventing customer or employee theft? Determine what your most vulnerable areas are and what mitigation measures are needed to protect them.

• With threats and vulnerabilities identified, start prioritizing. Rank your threats in order of frequency. Now rank your vulnerabilities to these threats by the impact they’ll have on your business; for example, inventory results show employee theft is $5,000 per year, computer failure costs $100 per hour, and so on. Apply those numbers to the prioritized risks, and now you have a risk exposure for each threat. The higher the risk exposure, the more it’s worth your while to protect yourself from that threat.

Step 2: Develop a plan. An emergency action plan is a written procedure manual for dealing with the threats you’ve identified in step one. Some of the components of your plan will be prescribed by law, regulations or good business sense. Among these are an OSHA-directed evacuation plan, adherence to the provisions of the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley antifraud law, or the National Fire Protection Association’s Life-Safety Code.

When there’s a legal requirement to do something, you’re usually–but not always–told how to comply. There are a number of different ways to create your emergency plan; however, all emergency plans tend to have the same basic elements. According to the National Safety Council, emergency actions plans should contain the following minimum elements:

• Clear, written policies that designate a chain of command, listing names and job titles of the people or departments who are responsible for making decisions, monitoring response actions, and recovering back-to-normal operations

• Names of the people responsible for assessing the degree of risk to life and property, and who exactly should be notified for various types of emergencies

• Specific instructions for shutting down equipment and production processes and stopping business activities

• Facility evacuation procedures, including a designated meeting site outside the facility and a process to account for all employees after an evacuation

• Procedures for employees who are responsible for shutting down critical operations before they evacuate the facility

• Specific training, practice schedules and equipment requirements for employees who are responsible for rescue operations, medical duties, hazardous responses, fire fighting and other responses specific to your work site

• The preferred means of reporting fires and other emergencies

All your procedures should be documented in writing.

Finally, ensure that you have a way of contacting your customers should you have the need. A press release, an e-mail or a sign that directs them to a new location or provides them with information on when you’ll be back in business go far in reminding folks that your reputation is dependent on taking care of your customers.

Step 3: Be ready to respond. Once you get the basic emergency action plan written, tell your employees! Make sure they know what’s expected of them in an emergency–any kind of emergency. If they haven’t been involved before, give them an opportunity to “dry run” the plan and talk over how things might go in an emergency scenario (this is called a tabletop exercise). You might find that there are changes you need to make to some of the plan’s details. That’s good. No plan is perfect, and it’s not even a plan until it’s been tested.

Be sure to share your response protocols, especially your evacuation procedures, with the local fire department, emergency medical service and police department. These are likely the first type assistance to arrive on the scene, and they’ll need to know what actions you’ve taken. When they’ve been apprised of your emergency action plan ahead of time, they’re better prepared to help. As well, they’re experienced with these kinds of plans and can provide valuable insight that you may want to incorporate into your written plan.

Some other areas of training for your employees that’ll help mitigate the effects of an emergency and provide huge returns in employee satisfaction and business reputation include:

• Emergency equipment shutdown
• Emergency notification procedures
• Building evacuation procedures
• Fire extinguisher use
• Basic first aid
• Cardio-pulmonary respiration (CPR)

Training is an important and relatively inexpensive part of emergency preparation that may save a life. More important, proper training can prevent an emergency from becoming a disaster and make all the difference between closing down operations for a few hours and being out of business indefinitely.

Step 4: Get back to business. Once you’ve implemented the first three steps, take the time to think about the worst-case scenario and make some plans for how you’ll recover. Some questions to think about–and answer–include these:

• Where will you find a new location to work?
• Where can you get replacement equipment and computers?
• Who will help clean up after the storm/fire/disaster?
• How will you recover your critical data–the computers or original documents damaged by water or fire?
• How will you reach your people?
• How will they reach your?
• How will they get to work?
• What if your suppliers aren’t as prepared and something happens to them?
• What programs are available to help your business (Federal Emergency Management Agency, SBA) or help your people (Red Cross, Salvation Army)?

There are many more questions you could ask yourself, but I’m sure you get the idea. What will it take for you to get back into business quickly? You might be very proud of getting your operations back up in three weeks, but if your competitor does it in one, where will your customers go? How much will your reputation suffer?

Remember, there’s no way to guarantee that once you’re in business, you’ll stay in business. It’s up to you to plan ahead and be prepared by creating the most resilient business possible.

Article by Charles S. Thomas for Entrepreneur.com

One thing is certain in business: things will go wrong. So when you first start a business, one of your priorities should be emergency planning.

Put a disaster plan in place that fits your situation– in case supply lines are cut, a hurricane hits, or other natural catastrophe looms — because if disaster strikes, a lot of people will look to you for answers.

On Feb. 23, 2007, at around 8.15 p.m., one of Virgin Trains’ new Pendolino tilting trains jumped over a set of points in Cumbria in the northwest of England, on a remote part of the West Coast Main Line. Margaret Masson, an elderly woman traveling to her home in Cardonald, was thrown around in the coach as the train careened down a steep embankment.

For 10 years, Virgin Trains had been safely carrying millions of passengers. That night, life changed for all of us at Virgin. Margaret Masson was dead. Several others were seriously hurt.

I was on a ski trip in Zermatt, Switzerland, when I received a text message about the rail accident. I hired a car and drove through the night to Zurich, where I got the first flight out at 6.30 a.m.

When I arrived in Manchester, the BBC was reporting that the train was intact, and that had helped to save many lives. That was heartening: all our new trains had been built like tanks for this very reason. A later report confirmed a track failure was responsible for the accident.

I met Margaret Masson’s family at the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire. I offered them my condolences. We found ourselves hugging each other.

Soon I was facing television cameras and journalists who wanted answers. I thought I was going to choke up. I came close, but kept it together and stuck to the facts as we knew them.

I expressed my gratitude to the train operator, Iain Black, who did everything he could to save his passengers, and in the process sustained serious injuries. Our other employees on board had all behaved in an exemplary fashion, ignoring their own minor injuries to lead customers to safety.

Why were we able to react so quickly? When Virgin Trains was putting its emergency procedures in place, we had analyzed a number of serious rail incidents, and had been appalled by the length of time it took before anyone in charge spoke to the press. Confusion and blame set in quickly as anxious people waited to find out what happened and why.

So our disaster planning had prepared us to accomplish three main goals: get to the scene fast; be efficient in dealing with the passengers, staff and media; and be honest about what was happening. We knew those first steps would get communications established so that everyone — passengers, staff, the media — would obtain the information they needed.

Beyond disasters and accidents, as you forge ahead, it’s inevitable that you and your team will make mistakes. It is important to recognize this and ensure everyone in the company is prepared.

Which brings me to the difficult balance that all entrepreneurs and CEOs need to learn how to maintain: always protect your reputation, yet don’t be afraid of making mistakes. These rules ought not to contradict each other, but they often do. I’ve known plenty of talented and trustworthy people whose careers have been damaged by past errors, and who have suffered professionally as a result. If you or someone in your company has made a serious mistake, don’t be afraid to ask the senior figures in your circle for advice and help. Distinguished people are often generous and understanding, to a fault. They’ve been through the mill; they know what life is like. They will advocate for you, and their reputations will help yours to recover.

Investigate the matter thoroughly; if you can, try to pinpoint where your internal processes failed. During this period, do not keep your head down — that will do you no good. Instead, communicate openly with the press and keep them up to date.

Next, apologize. Explain what happened, express your regret, and describe what steps you have taken to correct the situation. Eventually people will realize that yours is a company that knows how to deal with its problems, and then you will have their trust.

Article taken from Entrepreneur.com

Download the document here.