How do you use technology to enhance your risk management and business continuity capabilities?

Risk assessments are key. Use a good tool that is able to process input from various other sources, it’s mostly worth the buck. But before, ensure business margins and/or potential savings justify a respective investment. Check for needs, and think ahead: Maybe it is more effective and - on the mid to long run - cheaper to go directly for a digital twin of your facility?

There are quite a few things to consider when developing a BCP. Risk Assessments and BIAs are just two things that can come up with a large amount of information. Well-selected and tailored technology surely can help to not miss an important part, ensure maintenance (particularly when people leave - when a tool is connected to the HR database, you might get an email and can initiate to look for a successor), trigger alerts in case a predefined value is endangered or a critical subprocess changes, deliver the necessary trainings and more. Still, human attention is needed to spot when technology provides unrealistic or unreasonable input or output.

Technology can be a true enabler, especially in complex fields such as BCM. We live in an interconnected world, where technology drives change in a way never seen (or believed) before. However, ultimately, a BCP must work in case technology fails - therefore a specific focus in training and exercising must be put to BCP execution without technology.

Like everything else, Technology has ups and down. But maximizing the upside can bring positive things. Technology bring efficiency, connectivity, and with regards to risk management it could bring information/data management to help action takers and decision-makers to decide analytically, especially for those complex organization. And for business aspect such as recorded communication, precise response and recovery from clear predefine actions to have a solid data for investigation leading to monitored improvements to become more effective.

Technology is good and necessary, but in most cases it isn’t the holy grail. Pure believe in technology even bears the risk of becoming a showstopper. Security and BCM professionals develop an instinct over time that technology cannot keep up with. Therefore it is of upmost importance to have a team that consists of both young and seasoned professionals, cross-joiners, and various backgrounds, and give the team a voice. And it’s about liaising, aligning with other functions, understanding each other’s positions and go forward collectively - then technology can be leveraged to the max.