Another New Year!

By: Tim Bonno, CBCP

y now, all of the presents have been opened, played with, broken and or returned. All of the holiday decorations have been taken down and put away for another year. For some of us, this included the tree itself. For the purists though, the “live” tree has been taken away and recycled into mulch. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired!

And now it’s the New Year. A time to return to work a look forward to new opportunities and challenges. It’s also a time for us to make our annual New Year’s resolutions. Those little glimpses of hope and promise, that we’re convinced if we stick to them, we’ll become better people. Well, one can only hope. I thought I’d take the opportunity of this column to share with you my Top 10 List of Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity / Emergency Management New Year’s Resolutions.

10. Develop a local planning group, if the local community doesn’t have one. Why reinvent the wheel? Let’s learn from each other. This is a great way to see how someone else has tackled a similar problem.
9. Get out and meet with the state and local Emergency Management Agency Directors. These folks have a wealth of knowledge and expertise. They also provide great training. And, it’s better to have these relationships established before the emergency rather than after.
8. Convince upper management that Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity is an important PROACTIVE process that helps protect and ensure the rest of the “business plan”. It is not something that can be addressed on an “as needed” basis.
7. Lose 10 pounds (OK 15!) I just had to put this in. 6. Obtain sufficient funding. After all, it’s that money that provides the resources that we use to make our companies better. Resources such as the ability to gather and maintain the information that becomes the foundation of our plans, the exercises we conduct to improve our response and preparedness capabilities, the equipment and supplies that we place in our emergency operations centers (hotsites), and the Training and Awareness programs we develop for our most critical resource … our employees.
5. Learn how to do better web searches. I find it very frustrating to either get “0 search results” or “1,987,653 search results” returned. I know the web has some great information on it. I just have to figure out how to find it.
4. Get out and meet the Regional FEMA Directors. (see reason #9)
3. Attend at least one NEW workshop, course or conference this year. It’s important to experience new opportunities and speak with new people. New experiences, opportunities and knowledge allow us to broaden skills and capabilities.
2. Take a vacation. Planners work far too hard, and for not enough money, not to deserve one!
1. Start planning for Christmas 1998!

1998 should be an exciting year for PPBI. Throughout the year, the PPBI board members will be actively working on many new issues that will greatly enhance the way we address business continuity, disaster recovery, and emergency management today. Issues such as greater coordination between the Private and Public sectors, a new course (instructional) offering, and Expedited Access Credentialing into a disaster site for business and industry. Throughout the year, we’ll keep you informed as to how we progress on these issues. As a planning practitioner, your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Both the Executive Board and the Research and Evaluation Board of PPBI wish each and everyone a very prosperous New Year!