Resiliency=f(comms)

Organizational resiliency is a function of avail­able commu­ni­ca­tions which is a direct function of your prepared­ness posture. Without commu­ni­ca­tions you are up zee creek (if there’s any water left)! Ok if there’s no water left you are really up zee creek! Better call somebody…oh darn…the phones aren’t working and the power is out! … Geez my cell phone battery is dead…oh well the cell service is down too. — Now what! … Hope I can find my car keys.

With proper planning and acqui­si­tion of easy-to-use mobile commu­ni­ca­tions systems, you don’t ever need to find yourself in a position where it is not possi­ble to commu­ni­cate with others. Business resiliency has to start with the ability to commu­ni­cate at all times. This funda­men­tal need escalates dramat­i­cally in times of crisis where response time is criti­cal to mitigate the effects of a disas­ter. Don’t forget this aspect of your conti­nu­ity planning. It is as impor­tant as backing up your criti­cal data at geograph­i­cally diverse locations.

And remem­ber .….…. making a phone call is rarely a suffi­cient form of commu­ni­ca­tion even in normal situa­tions. Voice, data, and video are more and more vital to sharing effec­tive situa­tional aware­ness when disas­ter strikes.