The very nature of an Emergency Service Organisation (ESO) is to respond to disasters that strike the community. However, an operational disruption that stops an ESO from delivering a public response will have a devastating impact on the people who expect and need their assistance.
The Challenge
Our client was operating in an environment where corporate priorities are constantly changing. We initially supported the establishment of the Business Continuity (BC) program by raising awareness of the importance of BC in the minds of management. With this buy-in from management, we proceeded to assess the whole of the organisation to determine which parts were the most time critical, taking into account their unique seasonal operational priorities. We mentored management through the process of defining meaningful impact assessment criteria that enabled us to determine the criticality of each business activity.
The Solution
Within this program, we were very aware of the organisational priorities to deliver against their primary obligations to the community and we adapted to the capacity of the management and staff to be involved. By leveraging our professional experience we were able to facilitate a program of work over a 24 month period.
As with all of our engagements, we strive to leave our clients with the skills necessary to move the program forward after we leave. In this case, Terra Firma mentored a nominated resource through the Business Continuity Management process so that they eventually became the BC Manager for the organisation. In addition, we educated all program participants through each step of the journey.
The Result
The completion of the program resulted in an organisation that had clarity over the arrangements to respond and recover from a disruption. Tools and frameworks to continue to manage the program and a Senior Management team that had gained experience in directly managing a disruption.