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A letter from the executive officeProtecting your enterprise with emergency managementA massive power outage. Devastating pandemics. Flooding. A fire in your building. Gunfire in the hallways. If your enterprise faced one of these events tomorrow, would you be ready to manage the situation, acting decisively and immediately? How long would it take to get back in business? Would your organization survive? These are the questions responsible enterprises everywhere need to be asking. And in today’s increasingly interdependent and collaborative world, the impact of these events can be compounded as a single incident turns into a cascading failure that spreads well beyond its origin. The picture isn’t all doom and gloom, however. The reality is that with the right emergency management plan, your enterprise will be able to respond effectively to any crisis and be back in business at the earliest opportunity. This is a reality we understand at Bell. As part of the critical infrastructure, we know that our own emergency management program has to be the best, as we are accountable not only to our clients but to the Canadian public. And our experience extends well beyond our own operations. Because of our critical infrastructure role, we have been involved in helping clients and public sector organizations manage most major emergency events that occur nationwide. Along the way, we have continued to expand our knowledge of emergency planning. We’ve learned that the best approach to emergency management is to create a dynamic, intelligence-driven plan that addresses the constantly shifting realities of today. This plan must be continually tested and refined in order to effectively manage your risk. We’ve also learned the paramount importance of the ability to communicate in any emergency situation. Having the right plan in place is critical, but if you can’t talk to your employees, first responders and other key stakeholders, it amounts to little more than a binder on a shelf. As an example of how this can all come together, Bell is helping integrate and secure all of the interoperable communications for the 2010 Olympics in B.C. In this issue of Impact we examine what has changed in emergency planning, and what you need to have in your plan in order to handle today’s threat environment. We’ll also focus on how communications fit into that plan, as well as how new technologies and applications like Rapid Response Management Solution (RRMS) and ruggedized portable networks can enable emergency management. You will also find a great tool to help you evaluate your existing communications infrastructure and plan. As always, we welcome your feedback on the tools and resources we offer you in Impact and on any other aspect of our services. Best regards, Stéphane Boisvert President, Bell Enterprise ... Emergency management: Planning for the new normal
Yet despite these constant reminders, emergency planning continues to be a relatively low priority for many enterprises. In fact, a recent Leger report noted that while nearly half of all Canadian businesses have been affected by a disaster, only 28 percent of Canadian businesses currently have a disaster recovery or business continuity plan. But simply drawing up a plan is not enough. As the types of emergencies we face change and evolve, so too must our thinking about emergency planning. Emergency management is about risk management, and because completely eliminating risk is impossible, planning must be an intelligence-driven process. And your plan absolutely must include elements that enable you to receive and communicate the right information in a crisis situation. The most important lesson learned in every one of the examples above is that if you can’t communicate, your plan is useless. Using what we’ve learned At Bell, our own experience with all aspects of emergency management is extensive; as part of the critical infrastructure, we’ve got a huge responsibility to get it right for the Canadian public and our clients. Our own emergency management program was initially implemented more than 40 years ago, and it is has been continually refined and tested since then. After all, telecommunications is the critical infrastructure sector that every sector is dependent on. And for that same reason, Bell has been involved in almost every major emergency situation nationwide, from the 1998 ice storm to the Saguenay flood. In a recent example, Bell was a key player in helping the state of Louisiana cope with the devastating flood of 2006 cause by Hurricane Katrina, with 270 technicians and managers on site doing everything from splicing to participating in the post-crisis analysis. A framework for planning For any emergency management plan to meet today’s existing threat environment as well as working in a landscape where businesses are so interdependent, it should include the following elements: Prevention/mitigation Prevention and mitigation consist of sustained actions to reduce or eliminate the long-term impacts and risks associated with natural and human-induced disasters, including:
Preparedness Preparedness entails developing effective policies, procedures and plans, and then testing and validating those plans. This should include:
Response Response covers those actions taken immediately before, during or directly after an emergency occurs, including:
Recovery Recovery includes the efforts taken to repair and restore entities impacted by emergencies, such as:
Crisis communications Once you’ve developed your plan, one of the key dimensions in making it all come together under the stress and confusion of an event is the quality of your communications. Your communications must be supported with pre-planned strategies for dealing with all other interested parties in the short and long term. This calls for professional discipline and can’t be handled by stressed senior executives or leaked through traumatized employees. You have to control the messaging from a position of consistency, strength and integrity. And this controlled exchange of information must start with all first responders and extend out to all key stakeholders. If you want to evaluate the strength of your current emergency communications structure, download our Emergency communications preparedness checklist. Planning for the new reality of cascading failures Until recently, emergency planning has largely focused on responding to a single event, such as a terrorist attack or a school shooting. However, the reality is that today, environmental disaster, pandemics, infrastructure failures, and a host of other localized possibilities, can cause cascading failures that can have huge impact on your organization. In a cascading failure, a disruption to just one of the critical infrastructure systems can have major consequences across other systems and sectors. For example, if a computer virus disrupts the distribution of natural gas across a region, this could lead to a reduction in electrical power generation, which in turn could hamper road traffic, air traffic, and rail transportation and even emergency services. Because of this interdependent nature of the enterprise landscape, communication has become more important than ever in helping you copy with – and bounce back from – emergencies. Understanding interdependence A significant component of this intelligence-driven approach lies in understanding that all companies are becoming more interdependent and therefore increasingly share responsibilities. Your enterprise and the people you do business with, as well as critical infrastructure elements, are all part of a business ecosystem, and not incorporating this into your plan introduces risks and vulnerabilities. Today, businesses need to:
Creating an accurate picture of your dependencies and mapping the right communications strategies to it requires time, patience and experience, but when done correctly it can significantly reduce the impact of any risks your enterprise faces. Don’t forget the bottom line: Emergency management has proven value As it becomes apparent that all organizations should have an emergency plan, the good news is that there is an increasingly strong ROI associated with the process. Current estimates from several sources, including the Multihazard Mitigation Council and the Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK government, suggest that every dollar invested in mitigation today will provide a 400-700% return in decreased risk, damage and recovery costs. As well, the way enterprises deal with operational risk has entered the assessment criteria of buyers and raters of equity and debt, and has become a component of financial risk management, according to Bell critical infrastructure protection expert Tyson Macaulay. Put plainly, if you’ve got a good emergency management plan, financing your operation may become a cheaper proposition. Planning the plan Only 18 percent of executives surveyed in the Léger study said they felt that their organizations are adequately prepared for the next crisis. With everything at stake – from employee safety and customer relations, to the financial health of your organization – planning how you will handle the inevitable next crisis is critical. Those companies and organizations that have the right plan in place will emerge with the least damage and be in a better position get back to business. Emergency management can be a complex and time consuming process that takes resources away from your core business, and without the right knowledge, it can be a real challenge. Bell professional services can take your emergency planning project from end to end in a short timeframe, starting with a vulnerability and gap analysis, whether you are revising an existing plan or starting from scratch. We’ll bring fresh eyes to your situation, determine what you have in place, establish baselines, and identify gaps and their consequences. From there, we can create and drive a roadmap to get you where you need to be. In short, Bell can help you plan the plan! For a vulnerability and gap analysis, to develop your emergency planning roadmap, or if you would simply like a Bell rep to contact you, ... Download: Emergency communications preparedness checklistEvents over the past five years have changed the way that emergency communications are managed. In order to respond effectively to crises and major events, companies and organizations need to have emergency management plans and programs in place, and an essential component of that plan is leveraging communications technologies. Downloading this tool will help you understand the questions you need to ask yourself as you prepare your emergency communications plan or refine your existing plan. Are you municipal official? If you are, click here for our emergency communications checklist designed specifically for municipalities! ... Emergency communications: Get the word out fast with RRMSRapid Response Management Solution from Bell ensures smooth communications, reduces liability and protects your brand reputation In an emergency you need to act fast to mitigate the damage to your enterprise, and your communications capabilities determine in large part how successful your response will be. Today, an emergency can take many forms, and the need for a solid communications plan is not limited to large-scale emergency situations such as pandemics and floods. In most day-to-day operations, there are also any number of critical business situations that can quickly escalate to full scale panic mode. For example:
You’ve got a plan. But will it work? In an emergency, the number of parties involved can escalate rapidly, and in order for your emergency management plan to succeed, you need to be able to communicate with all of them. An incident can affect only a small, geographically isolated group of employees, or it can evolve into a full-blown crisis reaching beyond the company to suppliers, customers, governments and even the public at large. You need to ensure that your response system can locate and communicate with all the relevant parties. For internal situations affecting your enterprise only, the onus is on you to have a system in place. But where others are involved, how do you guarantee quick and efficient communications in an emergency? RequirementsYour communications system should meet the following requirements:
The Rapid Response Management Solution (RRMS) from Bell RRMS from Bell integrates advanced phone, database and internet functionality to provide organizations with the ability to self-manage emergency communications without installing any additional software or hardware. A fully hosted, fully bilingual solution, RRMS resides on Bell’s national infrastructure. It consists of seven modules:
Implementing RRMS at Bell At Bell, the corporate security resiliency team fully understands the dual importance of ensuring the safety of our employees and our core infrastructure. In the event of an incident / situation, we need them to maintain and operate our core infrastructure, not just for our own sake, but for the millions of customers we serve who rely on our network to communicate. In 2006, the corporate security resiliency team integrated the use of the RRMS into the company’s overall corporate emergency response plan. RRMS provides a complete solution to be able to contact numerous key stakeholders during an emergency, whether they are our own employees or key customer contacts in the various emergency response sectors. The ultimate goal: Better customer service There are any number of situations that can threaten communications infrastructure. Whether it’s severe weather event, a fire that forces a building evacuation, or a line cut that disrupts network service, the ability to quickly and accurately disseminate information during a critical time is key to the successful management of a crisis – and RRMS allows us to do that. For more information about RRMS, contact your Bell representative. ... Ready for anything, anywhere: Wireless systems to the rescueA HAZMAT team arrives at a train derailment as liquid oozes onto the ground. Not sure what it is, they whip out a handheld smartphone and enter the railcar ID. Within moments they know the contents of that exact railcar and how to safely handle it. A police cruiser pulls over a car. The officer wants to check the CPIC (Canadian Police Information Centre) database but the cruiser does not have a terminal hardwired into it. Instead, the officer takes a handheld smartphone and logs in wirelessly. A major power outage darkens large portions of the downtown core. Fire, police and other emergency response teams converge. Using a generator or vehicle as an alternate power source, they establish a mobile command post from a small ruggedized case containing a portable network, with voice and data ports, on-board wi-fi and even a power booster for increased reception. These are all examples of how wireless technologies are playing an increasingly important role in emergency response situations. In the aftermath of a disaster, wireless devices may be the only viable communications medium for days or weeks, and your entire office may be entirely unavailable indefinitely. In such cases you will need to coordinate a move to a temporary alternate location, using organization contact lists maintained on mobile devices or other offsite locations. In the case of a widespread disaster, both fixed and mobile voice systems can be swamped by skyrocketing demand, as everyone tries to communicate at once. This occurred during 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. But even when voice systems are overwhelmed, text messaging, which requires less bandwidth, can often still get through. And so long as data networks are not down, services such as BlackBerry® PIN-to-PIN communications can still be used to send messages. Responding to a crisis All emergency management starts with a dynamic plan, but that plan will be all but useless if you can’t communicate with your key emergency response personnel, particularly in the critical moments immediately following an incident. The challenge is that, in today’s technology-oriented world, your personnel will often have several phone numbers and communications devices. As well, today’s workforce is increasingly mobile; people are not always tied to a desk or to one particular location. The plan has to be enabled by the ability to communicate with people through a multiplicity of options: wireline phone, cell, SMS, fax, email, radio, PDA, etc. With multiple forms of communication you can mitigate the impact of a crisis and improve your chances of maintaining business continuity. Here are some additional examples of how wireless technologies can strengthen the redundancy of your communications system:
Enabling the plan Wireless technologies are enabling new approaches to emergency planning and response. They allow for speedier response times, better access to data, improved communications and multiple levels of redundancy. To ensure the success of your emergency plan, the communications infrastructure underpinning it has to be rock solid. Bell can assist you in reviewing your existing plan to identify gaps or insufficiencies. If you would like to be contacted by a Bell rep, click here
... Quick linksHere are quick links to different solutions and services offered by Bell Enterprise:
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The last few years have seen a staggering number of events which have dramatically underscored the need for emergency planning: The ice storm in ’98, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, the Northeast blackout of 2003, SARS, and the shootings at Virginia Tech and Dawson College, to name a only a few. 
