World Island Network Master Class 2

Disaster Preparedness
Business Continuity Plans are an ‘illusion of preparation’ unless they are properly tested, and successful business recovery is dependent on how staff respond to the crisis.  Training provides a valuable opportunity to both test the organisation’s Business Continuity Plan and to build staff confidence in their ability to deal with a real crisis.

Outline – Disaster Preparedness Training
There are a number of training types that can be tailored to an organisation’s individual requirements.  These range from structured walk-through testing of individual business unit plans, through to full Disaster Simulation Exercises.

MSD International Limited is a leader in Disaster Preparedness Training and provides a dynamic, people-centred approach to training and testing, based on proven experience obtained since the company was formed in 1992. 

The training methodology is formulated to build confidence in an organisation’s Business Continuity Plan and to embed Business Continuity Management (BCM) within its culture as part of an ongoing BCM Programme.

MSD believes strongly in the use of Disaster Simulation Exercises as a way of obtaining staff buy-in and even initiating Business Continuity Programmes. 

MSD provided such training for a large international private bank.  Their staff were allocated roles in a fictitious company and utilised a Business Continuity Plan created by MSD for the day-long exercise, in order to provide the bank’s management with a taste of the kind of issues that they would face in the event of a real crisis. 

The feedback received was that this experience was invaluable in focusing managers’ attention on key issues to be addressed when writing the bank’s Business Continuity Plan.

Benefits of Disaster Preparedness Training

• Improved internal communications
• Decisions made in advance
• Identified vulnerabilities in operations
• Enhanced prospect of survival
• Increased staff awareness of Business Continuity Management
• Greater team work
• Improved confidence and morale of staff