Biz 1021 Crisis Mgt Dept - FINAL_Dept 10 / 19 / 21 1 : 25 PM Page 2 pacity they want to because we have that because of course they’re going to do cure as their on - site counterparts . During experience from doing our own emer - everything right , but I’ve never agreed with that widespread shift to remote work , IT gency planning , ” Cicalese says . “ We that , ” D’Agostino says . “ If you call your of - staff emerged as some of the most impor - reached out to our clients to say , ‘ Hey if fice and say ‘ Get out now , there’s a gunman tant members of a team . Their input would you need help , let us know . Our team has in the building , ’ what happens when one be crucial in designing a work - from - home gone through this . ’ We’ve been advising of your employees has a heart attack or plan , as well as establishing guidelines that clients specifically on how to be more mo - breaks a leg in the rush ? I don’t care if ensure sensitive information usually con - bile , how to work from anywhere , and how they’re slow - walking out of the building tained to office devices will remain safe . to really plan for the worst . ” for a drill , what matters is they’re doing a Or , if a key member of the team passes The turmoil taught the Cherry Hill firm walk - through of a plan that needs to work away or can no longer perform their duties , what so many other companies have when it counts . ” a succession plan facilitates a smoother learned by clawing their way back from In the end , though , none of the prepa - transition of leadership , while extra pre - disaster . As John D’Agostino Jr . , past pres - ration , redundancy and pressure tests mat - cautions can ensure that qualified individ - ident of Professional Insurance Agents of ter if there’s no outline for triggering those uals remain at the helm . communicate their proce - New Jersey , notes , it sometimes takes liv - plans or way to “ Say you have two partners who get dures . ing through an emergency to learn from along great and work well together , but “ A big part of these response plans is it . then one passes away and the surviving being able to communicate , so you need “ Good crisis management is trying to partner has to deal with their spouse , who inherited half of the business and has to have a literal communication plan , ” says invent scenarios that make you say ‘ What just wrong ? ’ and then no idea what they’re doing , ” D’Agostino Carmagnola . “ How are you going to talk else could possibly go figuring out as many safety nets as you can says . “ A buy / sell agreement life insurance to your team in the event of an emer - put in place to get the job done when plan allows the surviving partner to hand gency ? ” Murphy’s Law strikes — otherwise , you’re the spouse a check to buy out their shares An Evolving Plan Is an Effective the company finding out exactly what can of the business . ” Plan go wrong after you’ve experienced it , ” he In the instance of a fire , active shooter , If your contingency plans haven’t been up - says . compromised structural integrity of the of - dated in a while or you’re only revisiting fice itself or any other scenario necessitat - Getting Started what pertains to the most recent crisis ing a plan for quickly exiting the building “ The basics of a good plan are redundancy , you’ve faced , you could be leaving your - with no clear timeline of return , things like mobility and worst - case scenario plan - self , your employees , your clients and any - easily grabbed go - bags filled with perti - ning , ” Cicalese explains . one on the periphery of your network vul - nent company information or cloud stor - Some key company players are loathe nerable to increasingly shrewd digital age also can prove invaluable for continu - to confront their mortality by establishing a attacks . Hackers and their malware aren’t ing operations in the aftermath . succession plan ; some believe the storm of just targeting the biggest players in your “ After Hurricane Sandy , anyone who the century won’t hit their offices ; some think industry : Maliciously savvy ones are always had their backups on their computer sys - their business is too small for hackers to tar - zeroing in on smaller businesses for the tems found that ultimately didn’t prove get . Others simply put it off until it’s too late . easy prey . helpful because they got washed away , It can seem like a daunting task to ei - Even beyond technology’s constant too , ” Carmagnola says . “ A lot of folks c earned that they should have a backup ther bring outdated emergency plans into hanges , a stagnant document is an out - l offsite or in the cloud . ” the present or build multifaceted backup dated document . It’s important to revisit But while having a backup plan is im - procedures from the ground up . Fortu - the contents of your emergency plans even portant , putting all your eggs in one basket nately , your team is one of your strongest just to verify all contacts are current em - is still a risky approach to crisis manage - assets when it comes to examining a com - ployees , your evacuation plan corresponds ment . “ Forget about Plan B : You also want pany from all angles . Assembling an emer - to your current building and all procedures to have a Plan C — and probably even a gency - preparedness team not only draws are up - to - date . Plan D — to refer to , just in case , ” says on numerous parties ’ strengths and areas “ Understand that your plan is a work D’Agostino . of expertise but also means that a group in progress , ” Carmagnola says . “ You can can break down one seemingly over - add to it , you can change things , you might Putting Your Plan to the Test whelming task into something more man - take something out of it that’s no longer Experts unilaterally advise that once you ageable . relevant . It’s a document that you’re con - have multifaceted , modern backup plans “ Creating and then disseminating an stantly updating . ” in place , it’s crucial to not let them languish emergency plan is almost always a collec - But if you’re really in the tall grass when into irrelevancy . Make sure your data is tive decision , ” Carmagnola says . “ There’s it comes to crafting your crisis - manage - backed up completely and often , and is that brain trust in charge of the decision - ment plans , there are always experts who safely accessible from remote devices making , but then there are designated can help , as well as seminars and other ranging from an employee’s hotspot - folks who are going to deal with specific educational resources providing guidance equipped phone to a library terminal . issues . You need to know who your team’s from those who have survived the same Those backups should be proactively mon - going to be , who the critical components disaster that will , in time , impact your busi - itored to ensure they’re actually backing of that group are going to be , who’s going ness . No one thinks that worst - case scenario “ want them to , and up everything you to be in charge of communication . ” is going to happen to them , but it is defi - should be tested at regular intervals . With COVID , for example , countless nitely going to happen to someone , ” says “ Some people say you should never to trust companies that went remote had w Cicalese . give your team a heads up about a drill their teams ’ at - home equipment is as se - SouthJerseyBiz.net | VOLUME 11 ISSUE 10 | SOUTH JERSEY BIZ | 31