Two weeks ago I got a call from WFSU, our local NPR station. They were looking for volunteers for their on-air fall pledge drive. I have done this several years in a row – and really have a great time doing it – so, naturally, I volunteered again. You should think about doing the same.… Continue reading Giving Back

Disaster Recovery Journal took over the Hilton San Diego Bayfront this year for Fall World 2013, Sept. 22-25. “We are very excited to move into a new hotel this year,” said DRJ president Bob Arnold. “We heard nothing but positive comments about the Hilton Bayfront. It’s a great facility.” More than 900 practitioners joined hundreds… Continue reading Fall World 2013 Takes Over Hilton San Diego Bayfront

For more than 10 years, the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) has presented its views and guidance on how business continuity should be performed. Called the Good Practice Guidelines (GPG), the document is updated every two to three years with new and revised information that reflects the continuing maturity of the business continuity management (BCM) profession.… Continue reading The BCI’s Good Practice Guidelines

Read almost any article about cloud computing, and you’ll be tempted to believe that all your IT challenges will go away when you move your applications to the cloud. You’ll lower your infrastructure costs, reduce administrative effort, and make resources available more quickly to your users. Let’s extend that fantasy to disaster recovery (DR). We… Continue reading DR in the Age of Cloud

Everyone has suffered a disruption in their organization, whether it is a man-made disruption, technical disruption, or natural disruption. Servers fail, power goes out, and water pipes leak on occasion. These types of disruptions are fairly mundane events and typically cause barely a blip on the productivity radar. Mundane problems can quickly escalate when organization… Continue reading Keep Your Disruption from Becoming a Disaster

Business continuity teams spend substantial time and effort determining what needs to be done to remain operational when a situation arises beyond an organization’s control. Fairly standard are plans for dealing with the loss of a facility, loss of key systems, or the unavailability of staff. Common among these plans is a broad assumption that… Continue reading What if you Planned for a Disaster and Nobody Came?

The fictional Fantome Marques, registered out of the Cayman Islands, a 249,000-ton 6,296-passenger floating city, the flagship of Seahorse Lines, departs Miami for an eight-day Caribbean cruise. On day two of the cruise, while sailing between ports, passengers are reporting to the ship’s infirmary (sickbay) with complaints of nausea, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and abdominal pain.… Continue reading If You Were The Ship’s Captain, What Would YOU Have Done?

Effective information security and privacy consulting requires a highly specialized skill set and a wealth of experience. The challenges presented by the technological advances and methodologies are matched by the complexities involved in the implementation of security policies. Creating a comprehensive security policy is daunting, and for many organizations enforcement is ineffective. Effective information security… Continue reading Information Security, BYOD, and Organizational Behavior

Push back your chair for a moment and think about your evolving workplace. Any difference from, say, five years ago? In particular, consider how many of your employees rely on a smartphone, iPad, or other mobile devices for business communications. Not only did these devices not exist, but the whole concept of powerful mobile computing… Continue reading Workforce Continuity in a New Age

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Senior Manager of Digital Engagement Shayne Adamski told the House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications on July 9, 2013, “FEMA’s success in fulfilling its mission is highly dependent upon our ability to communicate with the individuals, families, and communities we serve. For that reason,… Continue reading Are You Ready For Social Media In Your Plan?