▼ ▲ Why would a business want DAHR Consulting to help educate their executives and managers?

For the real world, experience-based perspective needed to raise awareness and provide information to help justify investment in improving preparedness; to understand the differences between an outage, an emergency, and a disaster; to reveal business risks inherent in missing, flawed, or inadequate preparations for continuity; and more.

▼ ▲ What kind of education does DAHR Consulting do for or with a business?

I help executives, managers, and planners understand the potential consequences of an outage, an emergency, or a disaster, expecially in terms of Human Factors and the Ripple Effects on their business, their people, and their community. I help them gain understanding of what they don't already know or haven't yet considered.

▼ ▲ Why would a business need DAHR Consulting's help to identify preparedness gaps and recommend considerations and improvements?

My fresh perspective and disaster-experienced eyes can more readily and accurately identify gaps or weaknesses and recommend improvements to existing plans, testing methods, and incident recovery methods. The business can then use that information to improve its overall preparedness posture.

▼ ▲ Why would a business need DAHR Consulting's help to identify Human Factors of BC/DR?

To gain a better understanding of how outages, emergencies, and disasters affect the people involved, and the potential impact of those effects on business continuity and disaster recovery.

▼ ▲ Why should there be more focus on Human Factors?

Because people are fundamentally at the heart of every business. Different people react to a situation differently, and their reactions may be immediate or surface more slowly. Understanding how people may be affected and how different reactions may manifest has a direct correlation with the efficacy of BC/DR recovery efforts. I specialize in recognizing traumatic crisis symptoms and communicating the Human Factors considerations of BC/DR planning.

▼ ▲ Is it not enough for a business to meet all of its regulatory requirements?

Definitely not. Being audit-ready is not the same as being disaster-ready. Once understood, the differences can be used to help justify and implement needed improvements in business continuity preparedness.

▼ ▲ We comply with business standards for our industry and for business continuity. Doesn't that protect our business?

Not completely. Industry and business continuity standards provide good models for safety, security, quality, business documentation, high level business continuity considerations, and even plan templates. However, neither industry nor business continuity standards address all the specifics of a particular business, its culture, and its BC/DR needs. I bring disaster-experienced eyes and a fresh perspective to evaluate where multiple standards leave off and the business continuity needs of your business continue on.

▼ ▲ Our plans have call lists and assigned tasks. Isn't that enough?

No, that's not enough. In fact, it's only a start and it assumes every person on your call lists is available to support the recovery of the business. They can't be available if they themselves are not prepared for a disaster. Similar to a business BC/DR plan, people should think through and document their approach, methods, and provisions to take care of themselves and their families during a disaster situation. Likewise, if the business plans an approach, methods, and makes provisions to meet the needs of their people during a situation, they will be more available during the course of the recovery efforts and the business will get back up that much sooner. Things like cots, pillows, blankets, food, TVs, hotel accommodations, etc. can make a huge difference. There are many human factors to consider in BC/DR planning. Through personal experience I have learned a great deal about the business value of addressing the human side of disaster recovery.

▼ ▲ What ripple effects could affect us that our Risk Officer has not considered?

That depends on many factors unique to each situation. Risk Officers do a terrific job of identifying known or predictable risks. The ripple effects I'm talking about are generally unpredictable until the situation is known or as it evolves. I will teach you how to look for different situational permutations that can be mitigated, defused, or prepared for throughout the entire cycle of reaction, response, and recovery.