Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) includes the processes, procedures,decisions and activities to ensure that an organization can continue to function during an operational interruption due to crises and disasters. Critical to this function is the proactive and reactive planning specifying how an organization will continue to manage and communicate with its employees, partners and customers -- and to quickly return to business as usual.

The MIR3 inEnterprise Solution for Business Continuity Disaster Recovery Speeds Emergency Response BC/DR teams strategically plan and test continually so that in the event of a crisis or disaster, business operations can recover quickly. A successful BC/DR effort depends on reliable, speedy communications. Reaching and staying in contact with employees, vendors, and customers is critical. Here are key issues to consider:

Proactive Communication Measures The essence of good business continuity communications is the identification and implementation of measures that can be put in place to proactively prevent operational interruptions during crises and disasters. Business continuity communications management, at its highest level, is about keeping organizations operating at their maximum capability.

A Deeper and Clearer Understanding of the Organizational Communication Channels
This understanding is not only essential for BC management, it can also help planning and strategy in other non-BC functions of organizational development and management.

Reactive Measures BC management programs must also specify reactive procedures that will be taken when proactive measures fail, become overwhelmed, or are bypassed by some unforeseen and unexpected crisis. Reactive measures enable the organization to return to an acceptable level of operations within a desired timescale following an interruption, disaster or crisis.

Culture Change BC management programs involve an exploration of organizational culture. Effective notification systems will utilize change management techniques to ensure that the organization encourages a culture where all employees are sufficiently aware of everyday risks and their individual responsibility to report, manage and mitigate risks.

5. I Just Don’t Have Time for That Right Now. When time is of the essence, most urgent messages rise to the top. But even messages that aren’t mission-critical often demand prompt attention and response.