Interest – Business Resilience Experts

Critical Infrastructures

Critical Infrastructures

By Charlotte Ley|2021-10-06T08:33:52+02:00 6 October, 2021|Interest|

Definition of critical infrastructures and their sectors Critical infrastructures (CRITIS) are, according to the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Construction and Homeland, "organizations and facilities of major importance to the state community, the failure or impairment of which would cause lasting supply bottlenecks, significant disruptions to public safety or other dramatic consequences." [1] This means that a failure of these infrastructures can have a major impact on the population and the state and must therefore be avoided at all costs. In the face of increasing IT dangers, the German parliament published the BSI Act on the Tasks of the Federal Office for Information Security in 2009, according to which CRITIS must meet increased requirements in the area of IT. However, this law does not define which companies, organizations and institutions are CRITIS. For this purpose, the Ordinance on the Determination of Critical Infrastructures under the BSI [...]

Leading – differences between bcm and administrative crisis management

Leading – differences between bcm and administrative crisis management

By Charlotte Ley|2021-09-29T11:18:07+02:00 29 September, 2021|Interest|

Business continuity management can also mean "emergency and crisis management". We also find this term in the administrative sector, as in the work of civil protection. But is leadership in the event of crises really the same? This short article is intended to highlight individual differences and similarities between these two emergency and crisis management approaches so that a distinction can be made and differentiation simplified. Causes of crises The causes of crises or disasters in the field of civil protection are almost exclusively external. This means, for example, natural disasters, terrorist attacks or a technical/human failure, which leads to high risks. In the case of companies, there are two additional causes: inadequate attention to operational fluctuations up to the point of escalation and the occurrence of latent problems, which lead to high reputational damage. The crisis is therefore not only brought in from the outside, but may [...]

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The crises team

The crises team

By Charlotte Ley|2021-09-27T10:52:18+02:00 27 September, 2021|crisis management, Interest|

A crisis team is a group of people with decision-making authority who plan and implement the management of a crisis. Other names are a staff for extraordinary events or a task force. No matter what such a group is called, it must have decision-making capability and be responsible for managing the crisis. Fire Service Regulation 100 on Leadership and Command in Emergency Operations (German: Feuerwehr-Dienstvorschrift 100, FwDV 100 or DV 100) describes the crisis management team as it is used in emergency response (fire department, rescue service, disaster control/civil protection). Here, it is referred to as incident command staff. For more information on the distinction between the crisis management team and the command staff, you can read our blog article on the topic of "Leading - differences between BCM and official crisis management". The FwDV 100 was created after the Lüneburg Heath fire, as leadership faced great challenges [...]

Modern Hospital Alarm and Response Planning

Modern Hospital Alarm and Response Planning

By Charlotte Ley|2021-09-24T16:37:49+02:00 24 September, 2021|Interest, Norms & Standards|

Hospitals are specialized healthcare enterprises that operate either for profit or as a public legal entity. Crisis management in hospitals is also known as "hospital alert and response planning" (german: Krankenhaus Alarm- und Einsatzplanung KAEP), this has its roots in the need to increase treatment capacity. Examples of this are mass casualty incidents (MCI) or sick cases, where the hospital has to care for significantly more patients than in regular operation. Also described in the KAEP are measures to deal with functional failures, such as power outages. Hospital processes require personnel as well as resources embedded in an organization. Support from resources such as electricity, water, sewage, hygiene, IT, materials, medicines, etc. is required with the highest availability. Organizational, billing and documentation processes occur in parallel. The intersection between a hospital and a company from a business continuity management perspective is therefore very large. The Criticality Ordinance of [...]

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I think I´m having a crisis

I think I´m having a crisis

By Charlotte Ley|2021-09-08T10:19:33+02:00 8 September, 2021|Interest|

The concept of crisis in everyday language use and the actual definition. Crisis is a frequently used term, but it has different meanings. Similarly, emergency and disaster are often used in different contexts. The map of terms shows the escalation of an event to a disaster. An event can be evaluated both positively and negatively. This means that the occurrence of an event does not generally cause damage, but can also be an impetus or an opportunity that moves the company forward. For example, a phone call can contain both good and bad news and is evaluated as an event in both cases. An incident, on the other hand, is the negative escalation of an event. It is a deviation from the normal state, but without causing massive damage. In a company, both an incident and a negative event can be handled with the general organizational structure (line [...]

Corruption is no issue in our company – Really?

Corruption is no issue in our company – Really?

By Charlotte Ley|2021-09-08T09:47:49+02:00 8 September, 2021|Interest|

Corruption generally describes a decline in morals that is based on the fact that an expectation is violated. This expectation is defined by a trust provider (a company, the public, etc.), which establishes a behavioral expectation. Corruption describes the visible breach of trust when these behavioral expectations are not met. In the company, these expectations are also called compliance. Corruption always attacks the social fabric, which is built on trust. In addition, corruption can begin as early as the time of signing the employment contract, when the offered position is to be used to fulfill one's own interests or the interests of third parties. Thus, a pretense of facts takes place here. The pretense of loyalty is also used to deceive the company and to abuse trust. Motives for corruption arise from the imbalance of one of the following needs: - Meaning - recognition - success - attention [...]

Totally normal? The BCM standards at a glance

Totally normal? The BCM standards at a glance

By Charlotte Ley|2021-09-06T12:36:29+02:00 6 September, 2021|Interest|

What is actually normal? - Normal" is the term used to describe what is usual or what corresponds to the expectation. Something is also called "normal" if it conforms to a norm. A norm is generally seen as something very rigid, but a crisis is anything but. Above all, it is dynamic, constantly evolving, and does not seem to be manageable with a rigid solution. So how can a norm be used in a crisis? And why should a functioning business continuity management (BCM) standard be used as a foundation? A standard can help manage a crisis, especially if it is designed to be very flexible, like DIN EN ISO 22301. It provides a framework for building resilient structures that are necessary for crisis management. In addition, preparedness is also an essential contribution that DIN EN ISO 22301 provides for BCM, so that crises can even be prevented [...]

Case study companies with and without BCM

Case study companies with and without BCM

By Charlotte Ley|2021-08-30T08:08:32+02:00 30 August, 2021|Interest|

Why actually think and take precautions for robust corporate governance and supposedly expensive business continuity management? Paper is patient - and the ISO 22301 standard lies warm and dry in the cupboard. We take you through a case study to show you the process of an emergency using two differently positioned companies. Our case study takes you to two medium-sized companies operating in the same industry: House of cards-Money Tomb GmbH and robusta-Willow Tree KG. As "hidden champions," the companies produce the highest quality products and services in a niche area. Both companies have an extensive product portfolio, production at several locations, a business field of medical services and a large web presence with B2B and B2C contact. Key customers of the company come from the aviation industry, the automotive industry and other diverse sectors. Our protagonist is Bert van Jenssen, IT manager in the companies. The system [...]

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Embedding resilience into your cloud-based modernization strategy

Embedding resilience into your cloud-based modernization strategy

By Charlotte Ley|2021-08-24T08:21:15+02:00 24 August, 2021|Interest|

As part of transformation and modernization strategies, enterprises are increasingly adopting cloud-first strategies. This provides an ideal opportunity to embed resilience. Consider three core components of modernization: people, applications and IT. "We don't know of any vendor or service provider today whose business model and revenue growth is not impacted by the increasing adoption of cloud-first strategies." Those were the words of Gartner analyst Sig Nag, commenting on the company's recent finding that the public cloud services market grew an astounding 17.5 percent in 2019 to a total of $214.3 billion. While the cloud is transforming businesses of all types, a key aspect of its appeal to traditional enterprises in particular is the role it plays in modernizing existing IT structures. In particular, migrating existing IT to an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) model can be a blessing to comprehensive modernization strategies, with pay-as-you-use pricing structures helping to streamline and scale [...]

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Updated: Hospital alert planning for pandemics

Updated: Hospital alert planning for pandemics

By Charlotte Ley|2021-08-24T07:34:44+02:00 24 August, 2021|Interest|

The course of corona disease worldwide shows that a massive increase in the number of infected individuals is also to be expected in Germany. At present, there are still very few infected people compared to China and Italy. Pandemic measures are needed to reduce the spread, especially in hospitals. Corona, in the form of Covid-19, is a virus that can be transmitted from person to person. Vaccine protection against it has not yet been developed, so the only way to prevent it from spreading is through good hygiene and isolation of those infected. The legal basis for this in Germany is the Infection Protection Act, which requires compliance with the state of the art in medicine and epidemiology in order to prevent the spread. According to Section 4 (1) of the Infection Protection Act, the Robert Koch Institute is named to prescribe and develop this state of the art. Accordingly, the [...]

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