To adequately address physical and cyber threats, modern businesses must proactively develop robust strategies for risk assessment and management.
Houston, Texas, Aug. 12, 2024 — 
For businesses to be prepared for potential crises, business leaders and IT security teams must be on the same page. However, extensive research shows a widening gap between both groups, signaling a massive vulnerability in today’s cyber-physical world. This disconnect has serious implications for a business, sometimes leading to unintentional attacks and a significant loss of capital or sensitive information as a result.
Peter Kaleda, business continuity planning specialist, CEO, and Managing Partner of PPR Services, advocates for enterprises to take a proactive approach to developing a strong crisis response plan. In his experience serving Fortune 500 companies, he has seen countless instances where negligence on this task has directly caused irreparable damage to an organization. Businesses can safeguard their digital and physical assets by building more comprehensive strategies for risk assessment, management, and cross-team association.
While their role in organizational success is equally important, business leaders and IT security professionals don’t always see eye to eye. They have separate priorities and cultural differences, which can cause miscommunication and general frustration in achieving any cross-department task. Business continuity, which refers to proactive measures and reactive strategies used to ensure organizations can continue during and after disruption, is only possible through healthy collaboration between these two departments. In a world where natural disasters, cyber-attacks, and operational interruptions have increased in frequency, no organization can afford to overlook this practice.
Business continuity planning and management ensures operational resilience and process availability. This minimizes downtime, heightens risk management, and improves compliance. Yet, issues between business leaders and IT security teams remain prevalent. Over 40% of C-suite executives struggle to get clear information on security threats from their IT teams. However, 76% of cybersecurity specialists feel that they communicate effectively with business leaders. This lack of understanding leads to unintentional cybersecurity incidents and creates future liabilities that must be addressed.
Peter Kaleda, CEO and Managing Partner of PPR Services, a business continuity and crisis management firm, explains the significance of this problem. “For over 22 years I have worked in the government and private sectors at the intersection of IT, cybersecurity, business continuity, and disaster recovery,” he says. “I have seen the crises that occur when businesses have limited synergy between their leadership and security teams. In a digitally-enabled environment where risks emerge overnight, it’s unacceptable for organizations to operate without holistic business continuity plans in place.”
PPR Services leverages its motto–prepare, protect, and respond–to describe its mission to empower clients on their business continuity journey. The firm advocates for executives and cybersecurity professionals to work in tandem, unlocking greater operational resilience and profitability. Peter suggests that businesses implement several strategies to develop a crisis management plan that equally considers physical and cyber risks.
Risk assessment and management is the first step for a business to better equip itself for potential liabilities. Every company has a unique risk profile based on their industry and the factors that influence their operations. Peter refers to energy companies as an example. Since they supply a critical resource to thousands of people, they should be assessing weather patterns and have a reliable crisis team.
Once a business masters this capability, it can focus on incident response planning. Now that the threats have been identified, companies must decide what actions must be taken during a disruption and who is accountable for them. Business impact analysis goes hand in hand with incident response planning because it informs the strategies that will be taken to mitigate risks and any consequences. In some cases, it can be more cost-effective for the business to shoulder the risk without mitigating it. Insurance providers often support them through financial reimbursements, but disaster recovery planning is another key facet of a fully developed business continuity strategy.
Cybersecurity awareness training, supply chain security, and business continuity planning and testing are three additional ways organizations can improve resiliency and manage risk. Cybersecurity awareness training helps employees avoid phishing and inappropriate technology use. It can also reduce internal cyberattacks from disgruntled employees. Supply chain security takes physical threats into account, and empowers businesses to consider mitigation strategies. Finally, business continuity planning and testing prepare employees for future incidents and foster a culture of accountability. By implementing one or all of these strategies, organizations can enhance their resilience and minimize the impact of cyberattacks and disasters.
As geopolitical and environmental risk factors intensify, businesses should be open to exploring the value of an evolved business continuity plan. PPR Services demonstrates the critical need for hands-on support to prepare for and overcome disruptions. The company’s legacy in the crisis management and cybersecurity space should inspire collective action from leading organizations. After all, businesses will never be prepared for risks they fail to acknowledge.
