Jens von den Berken

Keeping an eye on the numerous legal requirements for companies is a great challenge for many entrepreneurs. And yet it is worth taking up this challenge. Legal violations can quickly turn into a tangible crisis for the company. Claims for damages (e.g. from product liability), fines (e.g. breaches of antitrust law or data protection requirements), but also financial losses due to loss of reputation; whether committed intentionally or negligently, the legal consequences of a breach of law can endanger the continued existence of the company. The entrepreneurial framework of responsibility and action and the associated obligations and risks should therefore be known and regularly reviewed. A functioning compliance management helps to identify the requirements and risks and can serve business continuity management as the basis for a comprehensive risk analysis. Furthermore, it supports the prevention of legal violations with suitable measures such as training and sensitization and thus [...]

Immediate Action Plan, Business Continuation, Recovery Emergency management has its own vocabulary. The graphic from the BSI 100-4 Emergency Management provides a good overview of the chronological sequence. We explain this using a simple example: You have planned a romantic dinner for your partner's birthday and are sitting at home in your living room opposite the dinner table. Suddenly, all four light bulbs of their ceiling lamp fail. Unexpectedly you face a crisis. The time until you notice the failure is the detection time. Ideally, this time is short. A smoke detector, for example, has a shorter detection time of a room fire than your sense of smell when you sleep. So, you are sitting in a pitch-dark room. While you are still thinking about what to do, your partner has already pulled out the smartphone, switched on the flashlight, placed it on a glass and continues to [...]

It is a game of speculation. Which security-related, social or political incidents could shape the year 2019: Drone incident / accident at an airport. With the increasing spread of privately and commercially used drones, it can be assumed that accidental or intended incidents with drones will occur. At least one serious accident of drones with aircraft or airports is to be expected. Long-term cold weather with impairment of gas supply and restrictions in shipping, especially inland shipping and North-East Sea. The last flood on the Elbe or Rhine with extensive flooding was already six years ago - in the next four years there will presumably be a further flooding situation across federal states. Major demonstrations in the area of conflict between infrastructure and energy generation such as Hambacher Forst, Stuttgart 21 etc. lead to significantly longer and more complicated planning and implementation processes of large-scale and small-scale projects [...]

Completeness and timeliness: The list of all business impacts considered must be complete. In day-to-day business, the focus is primarily on operational details. The overall view is thus lost to a certain extent. In the strategic dimension of Business Impact Analysis (BIA), it is very important not to overlook assets or risks. Without a complete list of all processes involved, it is not possible to describe all risks and dependencies. It is crucial not only to consider the existing documentation situation, but also to make a target/actual comparison between documentation and reality. Undocumented processes such as "shadow IT" can represent an incalculable risk - those who do not include them in their business impact analysis have white spots on their map. Even outsourced processes must be considered. The same is true for up-to-dateness. The processes listed in the Business Impact Analysis must be up to date. Depending on [...]

The term robustness refers to systems that maintain their function despite fluctuating operating or manufacturing conditions, i.e. they are insensitive to interference. The system is in a stable state. This behaviour is also called the "principle of safe existence / safe life behaviour". This is achieved by taking fluctuating operating conditions into account and tolerating them at the design stage. Example: Antifreeze in windscreen wiper water for a temperature range from -20° C to 60° C The increasing specialisation of products is proving problematic. In the above example, not only one product is available on the market, but several have different specifications: Product A for a temperature range from - 15° C to 50° C Product B for a temperature range from - 18° C to 45° C Product C for a temperature range of - 10° C to 55° C Product D for a temperature range from [...]