Ensuring Your Organization is Resilient


Posted on: January 20, 2021

Lighthouse, concept: Ensuring Your Organization is ResilientWith the endless disruptions that 2020 threw at us, ensuring that your organization is resilient is now the most important business function you can perform, not just during times of uncertainty, but at all times.

What sets resilient organizations apart from vulnerable organizations is that they understand how their business works, how it breaks, and how to put it back together again. They have the ability to achieve business health and success, no matter the crisis that hits. With that being said, if your organization has not developed a resilience program yet, that is okay! It is not too late to start getting on the right path towards resilience. It is better to start sooner rather than later though, for it is extremely important that organizations address and fix the disruptions caused by events such as COVID-19 immediately. And that’s what Fusion is here for − to help you on your journey to become a more resilient organization.

Operational resilience has core competencies that include business continuity and risk management which help organizations forecast, prepare for, and respond to unforeseen situations, such as a pandemic. COVID-19 has resulted in supply, technology, workforce, and workplace disruptions, and those companies that have not prioritized managing operational risks are still struggling to recover from these disruptions and are seeing negative business impacts. These impacts can occur from any unexpected event, however, not just a pandemic, which is why it is extremely important to have preparations in place for other threats such as civil unrest, breaches in security, severe weather, disturbances in supply chains, etc. All of which we are seeing today during a long-term pandemic.

With business continuity planning, procedures, and preparations in place, recovery can happen quickly and effectively. This is done first by putting a diverse team in place from various departments and levels that will be able to holistically address and mitigate all impacts caused by the event.

It is then critical to make sure that all policies and the scope of the resilience program are clearly communicated so that everyone within the team (and the entire organization) has a common understanding of them. Establishing an information foundation which will serve as a basis for making risk-based decisions and managing incidents to minimize business impacts is also vital to have. It serves as the support for the entire resilience plan and aids the company in saving time and money. It is also vital to conduct exercises and simulations of possible threats that could hurt the organization and the people, and then create plans for them. Being prepared will drive your organization towards being resilient much faster.

Ultimately, threats such as COVID-19 are unpredictable. Therefore, having a resilience program that is effective, efficient, and economical is critical because it ensures that the business can survive and thrive regardless of the unexpected changes that are thrown at it. It protects the organization’s brand equity, infrastructures, operations, reputation, and supply chain – all of which are necessary to continue persevering. In short, resilience allows the organization to continue to deliver on its customer promise, no matter the crisis. What could be more important?

Learn more about operational resilience, risk management, and business continuity in our Organizational Resilience whitepaper.