COMMENTARY
Networking Backups …
It’s Not What You Think!
By JEAN ROWE, MBCI, CBCP
Before I left for work, I popped off an e-mail to a BCP manager in Basel to catch up on per- sonal and professional stuff. It had been over a year since we
touched base, but it was as if we never
stopped communicating and we picked
up right where we left off. We shared
information; she was up to her eyeballs in
exercises and I was up to my eyeballs in a
program design. I then opened an e-mail
from someone fairly new to business
continuity planning located in Riyadh. I
reached out to someone in Ontario to help
answer a complicated question posed from
Riyadh and to also ask for a template for
myself. Within a few minutes I had popped
off a few quick messages either sharing
information I had or requesting someone
to share information with me.
It was Friday the 13th, the traditional
day of bad luck, and I reflected on the
irony of my good luck that day. As I drove
to work, I realized it’s not just one day, but
every day I am fortunate to have a great
communications network of resourceful,
brilliant, and helpful professionals at the
tips of my fingers. There is not a day that
goes by that I don’t learn something from
those willing to share information.
If you could use a few more “go to
people” and further build a solid network
of professionals to share resources, here
are a few ideas to consider. Industry conferences and local BCP organizations are
good places to start. There are BCP websites that offer networking opportunities
and free webinars too.
There are a myriad of blogs, information
sharing spots, and places to post questions
to your fellow colleagues in this industry.
Consider joining some of the online orga-
nizations as a starting point. You may find
yourself laughing a bit in the process of
learning something new or sharing your
own thoughts and ideas. Did anyone see
the online posting where a fellow col-
league asked everyone to provide great
disaster song titles for a year end party for
his company? Who says BCP professionals
don’t have a sense of humor?
v
Jean Rowe has been in business continuity as both a practitioner and a consultant
for more than 15 years. She is currently the
business resilience manager for Verisign.
