Join Our Collaborative Environment Today
We’re encouraged by the amount of interest we’ve seen at the launch of the National Center for Organizational Continuity and the site is nearly complete. But as we finish compiling data and assembling the most comprehensive resources on business continuity training and careers, there is still plenty for you to do.
One of the most powerful tools we can provide through the Center’s website – our one-of-a-kind business continuity collaborative environment – is up and running and waiting for you to join.
Go to http://portal.thecontinuitycenter.org now, start building your profile and you can begin collaborating with organizational continuity professionals, vendors of continuity services, institutes of higher education and training providers.
Continuity Planning: An Essential for the Business World
Be Prepared.
If you recognize that phrase, it may be because it has been the motor of the Boy Scouts of America for generations. In our everyday lives, we take steps to make sure that safety nets are there if we need them. From keeping a spare tire in the trunk to carrying an epipen in case of an insect sting, we maintain a state of advanced preparedness in many different facets of our lives.
But how prepared is your business if a disaster – sudden and unforeseen – should strike your operations?
In the digital media age, information sharing and communications is possible as has never been before. But in that same breath, while laws and regulations have made things skater in many aspects for businesses, a new chapter of unforeseen disasters has risen as a threat to normal business operations. From deliberate acts of terrorism, to severe weather, to illnesses and disease outbreaks, disaster can strike when it is least expected.
With an emphasis on business continuity in the event of a disaster, DRI International – an industry leader in business continuity – has informed business of proposed changes by the Department of Homeland Security to the Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Accreditation and Certification Program (PS-Prep). Under the proposed changes, institutions of higher learning will receive emergency preparedness certification through an accreditation system managed by the DHS.
According to DRI, the reference points for the new DHS accreditation system come from existing guidelines in codes used by the NFPA, BSI, and ASIS. At the same time, the DHS is in the process of establishing additional certifications and methods of certification that are designed for small business preparedness.
For more information on continuity planning, visit www.thecontinuitycenter.org.
Continuity Insights Conference set for April
As your business operates day in and day out, customers know that they can rely on you for the quality services that your business has always provided. While minor glitches and inconveniences may cause slight disruptions to your services, what would you do in the event of a major disaster affecting your business? Do you have a plan in place to maintain operations and resume normal service if the unthinkable hits at your location?
Issues such as this will be the topic when many of the top minds in the business continuity industry descend upon New Orleans this April for the Eighth Annual Continuity Insights Management Conference. Being held April 12-14 at the Sheraton New Orleans and sponsored by Continuity Insights Magazine, the event will bring together top minds from the business continuity departments of both public and private sector businesses and industries.
During the three-day conference, guests will have the chance to meet and hear addresses from top business continuity professionals from nationally-known pharmaceutical companies, airlines, hospitals, financial institutions, insurance companies, and government agencies. The conference begins Monday evening, April 12, and continues for the duration of the business day on both Tuesday and Wednesday, April 13 and 14. A special reception aboard the Creole Queen Paddleboat will take place on Tuesday evening, with drinks, food music, and dancing for all in attendance.
For a registration fee of $1,295.00, attendees will be able to attend a number of the 65 breakout sessions with leading industry professionals that will take place at the event. Don’t miss your chance to meet the industry leaders in organization continuity, in the city where a devastating natural disaster put such plans to the test in the late summer of 2005.
Welcome to the Center for Organizational Continuity
Organizational Continuity is an interdisciplinary activity and associated skill-set involving the creation and validation of practiced logistical programs to ensure operational resiliency in the event of a disruption of any scale or type.
As the Organizational Continuity profession becomes more defined, critical gaps are emerging between those employees with the right training, certifications/credentials, and growing industry demands. The National Center for Organizational Continuity is a training and research collaborative dedicated to ensuring the nation’s workforce obtains and maintains high-demand Organizational Continuity skills.
The critical importance and visibility of organizational continuity within public and private enterprises has grown exponentially in the last decade, fueled by highly publicized catastrophic events such as the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, as well as the more recent H1N1 “Swine Flu” outbreak. These events underscored the need for team members with the proper education and training to lead the preparedness efforts of organizations.
