Lessons Learned from Simulations/Tabletop Exercises and War-gaming
In analyzing the data from simulations carried out on the BeST software this week, the Be Strategic team identified a dramatic shift away from crisis management towards a prioritization of disaster recovery actions. The implication? These organizations are already planning their post-COVID-19 reality, in which they’ll need to either restore or resume their mission-critical functions as quickly as possible.
While there are many approaches to crisis management, Be Strategic typically sees a few stages that exist across all successful models (which have been validated through collating data from BeST simulations):
1. Managing the crisis – involves dealing with the impending incident while making short and long term decisions to mitigate the threat.
2. Ensuring business continuity – involves the actions and decisions that allow the organization to restore/resume its operations as quickly as possible with minimal disruption.
These two stages usually occur in close proximity and maintain a symbiotic relationship- effective crisis management drives effective business continuity and vice-versa. In fact, the business continuity stage usually begins shortly after the organization moves into the crisis management stage.
3. Ensuring disaster recovery- involves learning from the first two stages so the organization can “bounce back better” after the crisis is under control (i.e. leverage the insights gained from the first two stages to prevent a similar incident in the future and to better prepare for its reoccurrence).
This strong shift towards the recovery stage is indeed appropriate but it is going to be a complicated process. Variations in countries’ COVID-19 response indicate that the pervasive theme of this pandemic is uncertainty- and no government is immune. No one knows the impact the pandemic will have on the world economy. No one knows the implications for production lines, supply chains or industry in general. No one knows the long-term impact on workplaces and social spaces. Under such widespread conditions of extreme uncertainty, building and examining contingency plans is critical.
When in-person meetings to prepare ahead of an emerging crisis are not possible- the ability to exercise different processes and to collaboratively plan remotely becomes of utmost importance. Prioritizing disaster recovery planning NOW (during the response phase) will save huge amounts of resources while lending a competitive edge against rivals.
Remember: Be-Prepared. Be-Strategic