THRIVE! The official publication of DRI International
Issue #2 is now available! 

Last year when I was asked if I would write a column for Drive, I quickly agreed.  The goal at the outset was to provide useful information about New Orleans, the location of our then upcoming inaugural conference.  Having been to New Orleans many, many times for fun and to volunteer, I was a good candidate to talk about the food, music, sights, volunteerism, and the people of this interesting city. Over time, Clyde's Corner has broadened, taking on new topics like BCP challenges, tales of people responding to disasters, my own experiences with outages, and sometimes my feelings about current, relevant issues.  And this week, I turn to current events and the realities of a specific part of our business - emergency response and life safety. 

When this article comes out on Friday, it will have been a week since the tragedy in Newtown, CT.  As I write this with a heavy heart on Monday morning, the details and specifics unfold endlessly and painfully in the media. Our President visited the town last night, and scores of news reporters work tirelessly to bring the story forward - each trying hard to leave tears for off-camera, even though this horrific and tragic event has put our emotions at the forefront.  

As a BCP guy, I can relate the specifics of this horrible day, in remote ways, to what we do.  As a parent, I can only try to understand what the parents, friends, and community are dealing with. I am not ashamed to say that I am a sensitive and emotional type, and events like this one in Newtown tear at my heart. Seeing the faces of those young children and adults who died is just very painful. I am not smart enough or knowledgeable enough to understand where gun control, mental health issues, and violence in video games and TV and movies has impact on bad days like this one, but I am smart enough to know that this was a worst-case scenario for many innocent people. For this idyllic town, and perhaps the nation, our way of life may have forever changed.

Last Friday, I was teaching a workshop for DRI International in Washington, D.C. We had talked briefly about active shooter and shelter in place when discussing emergency response and life safety.  Not long after, when we took a lunch break, one of the students showed me her iPhone and the streaming story was of the shooting in Newtown. Shocked, saddened, moved, almost paralyzed, I chose not to bring it up in the class. Yet I knew that several students had seen the story and were profoundly saddened and curious about what had happened. But I had a half-day of topics to cover, and professionally I needed to move on. I did so, but my heart and mind were with those in Connecticut.

I focused hard and carried on with our class. It was a very good group of almost 30 students, and we had lively and informative dialogue. But, in the back of my mind was this unthinkable disaster. Thank you to my students that day for forging forward and staying focused. Thank you for sharing your personal stories at the break and after class. Thank you for outwardly recognizing that certain components of our business are so important, so relevant, and so meaningful in a world that can and does bring bad things to our lives, communities, and businesses.  Thank you to all our of weekly readers for taking a moment of your time to think about those in Newtown. This is a dark and painful time for so many.  My heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to all those impacted.  And thank you all for listening.

All the best,

brojas@drii.org

(610) 792-4802

Thank you to all who participated in our contest!  We offered the chance to win a Galaxy Tablet to anyone who registered for DRI2013 by December 1.  The winner, chosen by a random drawing, is Michael Judge, business continuity planner for Macy's Systems and Technology in Duluth, GA.  Congratulations to Michael! We hope you enjoy your prize as much as you enjoy DRI2013!

P.S. That's not really Michael jumping for joy. It's a silly stock photo. But we do hope he's that happy and that this news puts a spring in his step. And Michael, if you do jump for joy, send us a picture and we'll run it!

Risk.net's list of top ten operational risks for 2013 includes "business continuity and disaster recovery"!
What do you think about that?
 
After much discussion about natural disaster in general and Sandy in particular, the article stated: "Business continuity and disaster recovery needs to be more than just a company-level task. Financial institutions need to regard it more like other forms of due diligence - for example examining contractors and suppliers for ethical behaviour, anti-money laundering or anti-bribery policies - and examine their vulnerabilities to a business continuity and disaster recovery failure at another organisation. To the extent where disaster recovery and resilience is the responsibility of local and national government, this will require interaction - and lobbying - with them as well."
 
To read the complete article, click here. Rounding out the top ten were IT sabotage, reputational damage, incentives and compensation, fraud and customer data abuse, epidemic disease, political intervention, sanctions and AML compliance, emerging market operating risks, and failure to enforce internal controls.

You are invited to participate in DRI International's Awards of Excellence Program and Awards Gala Dinner to honor individuals and corporations who are leaders and innovators within our profession. This event will recognize those who have achieved a level of excellence in the fields of continuity management, technology recovery (DR), and crisis management. The challenges associated with building a successful business continuity management program are many and we strongly believe that as a global continuity management training and certification organization, it is our duty to recognize and celebrate excellence. For a list of awards categories, click here. To nominate, click here.  And here is a list of FAQs.

The awards will be presented as the culmination of the DRI International Conference at the Awards of Excellence Gala Dinner to be held at the Downtown Philadelphia Marriott Hotel in Philadelphia, on Thursday, June 6, 2013. Nominations are due by February 15, 2013.

To assure a fair and unbiased assessment of all applicants, we have established a process that allows for blind judging by senior industry professionals drawn from amongst the most highly respected organizations, to independently judge the nominees in each category.

For more information, contact the Awards Team by calling (866) 542-3744 or via email at info@drii.org.

In the 10th annual "Ready or Not? Protecting the Public from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism" report, issued by the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), 35 states and Washington, D.C., scored a six or lower on 10 key indicators of public health preparedness.

The report found that, while there has been significant progress toward improving public health preparedness over the past 10 years, there continue to be persistent gaps in the country's ability to respond to health emergencies, ranging from bioterrorist threats to serious disease outbreaks to extreme weather. Many of these gaps are due to budget cuts and capacity challenges.

For a copy of the report, click here.