Riots Will Put UK Companies Out of Business

Aug. 9, 2011 - PRLog -- LONDON – Fifth Step, the business continuity planning and management specialist, has estimated that several thousands of businesses in London, Croydon Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and Liverpool have or will experience serious business-threatening disruptions over the next few weeks, or even failure, through lack of effective business continuity planning (BCP).

Owners of burned out and looted shopping centres, warehouses, factories and offices are clearly faced with dealing with serious and immediate disruption. However, much less obvious are the many businesses that are indirectly affected because vital supply and distribution chains have been severely interrupted and their employees cannot travel to work because of road closures and transport service suspensions.

Fifth Step’s experience has shown that most business continuity plans consist of paper-based employee guides and fail to take into account the reality of dealing with real world crises. At a basic level, updating contact information is frequently neglected with many employers unable to contact key staff in an emergency, let alone manage the resumption of operations at another location. In many cases, BC plans are kept on company premises and are inaccessible or even destroyed following a serious incident.

Fifth Step advocates a more effective approach to business continuity and crisis management planning using sophisticated Internet based tools. These have the capability of delivering far better value for money than the out-dated risk management processes currently used by the majority of British businesses.

Mindful of the need for businesses to reduce the time between knowing about a mission critical situation and acting on it, Fifth Step has recently partnered with Crisis Commander, an award winning online solution that deals with:
*     Business Continuity Planning
*     Emergency Notification
*     Incident Management
*     Crisis Communication (internal and external audiences)

Accessed via a web browser from any computer, this proven tool can make the difference between business recovery or failure. Designed to be scalable and affordable, it enables all kinds of organisations to put their continuity plans into action faster, more easily, with absolute reliability, leading to improved operational efficiencies and informed decision making from anywhere with access to a computer. Organisations that have deployed the online BCP tool  include: Aviva; Nissan; BMI; Bosch Security; Siemens Industrial; Dun & Bradstreet; Tetra Pak; Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service; City of London Security and Contingency Group and V&S Group.

Darren Wray, Fifth Step’s CEO, commented: “We have become increasingly concerned that many business owners and company directors believe they have adequate business continuity plans in place. Unfortunately, the evidence clearly demonstrates that quite the opposite is true. Businesses are far more exposed to the potential threats posed by even low-level incidents than they could ever have imagined. Sadly, only when it is too late will they discover this.”

He continued: “Most of the serious underlying risks of business disruption fall between the cracks as they are outside of the scope of current business continuity planning practices. Unidentified and therefore unmanaged, these risks pose an unnecessary and dangerous threat to the business. We avoid the traditional mechanical approach and instead take a more holistic view to identifying and managing risk. The major benefit is that not only is this demonstrably more effective but it also reduces the cost of business continuity management.”

Fifth Step is currently responding to the increased demand for improved business continuity planning and is undertaking audits for businesses across the UK and Continental Europe.

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FifthStep is a specialist provider of business continuity services for the digital age. Headquartered in London, the company is committed to managing and minimising the risk of businesses failure or disruption caused by unexpected events and crises. It combines business continuity consultancy with implementation and crisis management services that enable organisations to continue to operate when faced with adversity.

Its consultants operate throughout the UK and the Continent, providing best practice advice and guidance regarding Business Continuity, Crisis Management, ICT Continuity and Business Agility planning and implementation of resilient business infrastructures.

As well as designing robust business continuity management systems and providing business continuity planning support, FifthStep also handles reputation management and social media monitoring to counter adverse publicity.

For further information please visit http://www.fifthstepbusinesscontinuity.com