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6 September 2008
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Business Continuity 2008



Business Continuity Expo is a unique opportunity to explore best practice, identify industry trends and cement vital relationships to help ensure operational continuity before, during and after an incident



2007 wasn’t the best year for the Government when it came to safe-guarding the public’s information after a series of blunders including cases of mislaid senior civil servant laptops; the episode at HMRC; incidents in which confidential personal records were lost in the post and at large.

With a new year comes a new opportunity to start again. But how can you restore the public’s confidence in the governments ability to safely store and transfer data? It’ll be a steep hill to climb, however, it’s not insurmountable.

At the top of their agenda will have to be the question of accountability, trust and reputation with the government setting the right example. This is paramount especially if the business world is expected to follow suit and abide by the many rules and regulations recently introduced to make sure that companies are accountable. After all, it can no longer be a case of spending millions on the technology to minimise risk, but overlook the fact that the whole system can falter because staff are not probably trained, committed or responsible. Whole processes need to be exercised, audited, policed and reviewed.

For both the government and businesses to still stay standing and intact after an incident they will need to have contingency plans and resilience systems in place as well as a great PR machine ready to spin the story in their favour. In essence, business continuity is all about good business practice, creating a strong framework with the right IT infrastructures and procedures in place so that when a disaster of any kind does hit the organisation can continue to operate successfully.

Reputational risk
Reputational risk is a huge consideration for most organisations with many sinking or flying depending on how they have handled disasters. For those responsible for this area within government they could be well placed to ear-mark 2nd and 3rd April to attend the Business Continuity Expo at Excel in London. The event enables the industry to network and learn from one another on how best to mitigate disaster and implement best business practice within both the government and private sectors.

At Business Continuity Expo 2008, there will be an exhibition that will showcase the practical solutions and products from all the very best the industry has to offer. There will also be a FREE-to-attend seminar programme with an in depth two-day conference where personnel across all disciplines can find the tools, knowledge and expertise to arm their organisation or government department against any potential disaster and ensure operational continuity.

Contingency planning experts will be on hand at the event to discuss exercise and scenario testing, data centres and secondary sites, IT back-up and IT & Telecom infrastructure to communications infrastructures, and logistics, outsourcing and supply policy.

If it’s crisis and incident management you are interested in there will be specialists to talk to about information availability, emerging communications, facilities and management security, personnel and HR management, casualty management and media relations.

Incident and disaster recovery will also be covered by a team of experts at the event, discussing information retrieval and recovery, salvage and clean-up, brand & reputation management, HR management and legal recourse as well as decentralised workforce solutions.

The in-depth two-day high-level conference at Business Continuity Expo 2008, will consist of presentations, case studies, workshops and analysis from the world’s leading Business Continuity experts. Drawing from case studies with speakers across the public sector the whole spectrum of sophisticated business continuity management from risk analysis to protecting your reputation will be covered.

Presentations
Here is a sneak preview of some of the presentations:

National Resilience, Corporate Resilience and Operational Continuity - three sides of the same coin? In today’s business environment, shareholders, trading partners and regulators demand that every employee from CEO down take responsibility for optimising the operational continuity of their organisation. Featuring the most respected experts in the UK, this session will outline how and why continuity is a vital instrument for your commercial success. Speakers include: Chair Bruce Mann, director, Civil Contingencies Secretariat (tbc); Brett Lovegrove, head of Counter Terrorism, City of London Police; Gerald Corbett, CEO, SSL International.

Optimising Resilient Communications:
Resilient communications are the most important part of any continuity plan. This session looks at the rationale and implementation of communication cascades, and explores some of the media available for disseminating critical information.

Speakers include: Dr Nigel Brown, lead for Resilient Telecommunications Strategy, Cabinet Office; Matthew Butterworth, head of Heathrow Intelligence The Metropolitan Police;
Laurence Myerson, CEO, SMSworldwide.

Maintaining Corporate Health through Exercise. If you don’t measure, you don’t manage and the focus for organisations and government departments on exercising and auditing their BC planning has never been greater. This session looks at the advantages of different ways your organisation can exercise its continuity capabilities, and uses case study analysis to explore how exercising outcomes can be exploited.

Speakers include: Chair: Michael Charlton-Weedy, CEO, EPC; Charles Le Gallais, director of Homeland Security and Resilience, Finmeccanica; Susan Hayes, director, New York Metropolitan Opera.

Impact of an Incident. From flooding to FMD, last year saw several high profile incidents, with potential for far reaching consequences for the organisations involved. This session looks at ways in which this can be mitigated, and how accurate reporting, interpretation and representation of incidents can raise awareness of best practice.

Speakers include: Prof Richard Walton, Visiting Professor, Royal Holloway University; Kathy Settle, head of Regional Resilience, Government Office for the North West; Wayne Harrop, lecturer in Business Continuity, University of Coventry; Mel Gosling, MD, Merricom.

Managing Risk in Supply Chains. For many organisations, supply chain resilience is business continuity. This is session looks at how organisations can reduce their exposure to supply chain risk in the global trading environment.

Speakers include: Chair: Matthew Elkington, VP Risk Consulting Practice, Marsh; Jonathan Rush, editor, Contingency Today; Laura Pearson, corporate auditor and Colin Clark, head of Corporate Business Control, Somerfield Supermarkets; Peter Brudenall, partner, Hunton and Williams.

BS25999: Is it Worth Doing it Well? With the mass adoption of BS25999 underway, it is time to look at what your organisation can really get from it - beyond the rubber stamp. This session will look at the accreditation process, business advantages and also take a critical look at whether your organisation really needs the standard.

Speakers include: Chair: Julian Thrussell, BSI Management Systems UK BS 25999 product manager; PJ di Giammarino, CEO, JWG-it; Gary Locker, permanent liaison for ACPO and the Cabinet Office; Roger McLoughlin, continuity risk specialist, Vodafone.

Human and Personnel Aspects of BC: Reacting to an Incident. This session brings together the some of the most lively and engaging speakers in business continuity, exploring the ways that individual human behaviour and can be recognised, modified and optimised before, during and after an incident. Expect neurobiology, psycho-modification and vegetable dissection.

Speakers include: Rosie Murray, director, RaisingAwarenessforTrauma; Richard Dean, MD, Horizon; David Tredrea, clinical consultant, Visor.

For more information
For tickets or further information on the Business Continuity Expo and Conference please call 0870 429 4480 or visit www.businesscontinuityexpo.co.uk.