What is DRP (Disaster Recovery Planning) and Why is It Important?
Erwood Group Blog / Keith Erwood
January 09, 2023
Disaster recovery planning is also known as DRP. As its name suggests, disaster recovery planning is all about having a plan ready for what to do to recover after a disaster.
However, in this context, we are not speaking of all types of company disasters. The relevant kinds of disasters are those that involve losing important data and similar technical disasters.
People use disaster recovery planning to prepare for a wide variety of possible causes of disasters. Some people are mostly thinking about the possibility of ransomware and other forms of cybercriminal activity. Other people are concerned about human error and the potential for essential data loss.
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Tags: Business Continuity
Understanding What Dark Web Scans Are & How They Can Protect You
Erwood Group Blog / Keith Erwood
January 03, 2023
With the rise of cybercrime and identity theft, it’s more important than ever to secure your data and protect yourself against the dark web. A Dark Web Scan allows you to monitor how your information is being shared or used, giving you peace of mind that your personal data is secure. Understanding What Dark Web Scans Are & How They Can Protect You & Your Business helps to keep your personal and business information more secure.
How? First, let’s start by taking a look at exactly what the dark web is.
What is the Dark Web?
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Tags: Cybersecurity
Introducing Our Basic Risk Assessment Tool
Erwood Group Blog / Keith Erwood
October 13, 2022
We at the Erwood Group believe that the Free Basic Risk Assessment Tool will be a game changer for the small and mid-sized business market for removing the obstacles required to complete a risk assessment quickly and efficiently.
This is important because one of the most basic reasons for business continuity or contingency plans to fail is the lack of a risk assessment or understanding of how those risks will impact the business.
Our proprietary tool is easy to use and will quickly calculate an Overall Threat Rating based on the Probability of Occurrence and the Impact Severity on key core operations of the business.
The Basic Risk Assessment Tool will be a part of our Forever Free Initiative to provide all businesses with better preparation for disruptions and disasters.
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Tags: Business Continuity
Everything You Need to Know About Business Continuity Plans
Keith Erwood
July 12, 2022
A business continuity plan is best described as the plan you would use if your business were impacted by a disaster or disruption so that you could continue providing goods and services to your customers and clients. I also like to just call it disaster planning for businesses.
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Tags: Business Continuity
Learn, Practice, Implement, Challenge – The New Exercise Methodology to Increase Your Business Endurance
Keith Erwood
April 20, 2022
Here at the Erwood Group, we’ve created a new exercise methodology. A new paradigm for the way a business exercises, trains, and prepares for a crisis. It is called Learn, Practice, Implement, Challenge – The new exercise methodology to Increase Your business endurance.
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “crawl, walk, run” before, right?
Now, go ahead and tell me what you mean by that exactly, and I bet you’ll have some trouble.
“Crawl, walk, run”is a phrase I commonly hear especially around exercises. It’s a phrase that I hate. It’s just too vague, overly simplified, and completely nondescriptive, leaving out key details about just how we are supposed to progress through to something bigger and better. Can you tell me what you’re supposed to be trying to achieve?
Of course, you can’t.
That’s why many years ago I came up with the phrase Learn, Practice, Implement, Challenge which provides not only the descriptive details but the overarching goal of what we’re trying to accomplish with each stage of our exercise progression.
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Tags: Business Continuity, Business Strategy, Leadership
Why We Exercise Part 1 of 2
Keith Erwood
April 07, 2022
The reasons why we exercise are often varied yet sometimes misunderstood by many. Below I will share some of the many reasons why we exercise and perhaps you’ll gain some insights into Why We Exercise.
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Tags: Business Continuity, Leadership, Risk Management
Why We Exercise Part 2 of 2
Keith Erwood
April 07, 2022
Whether this is for Crisis Teams, Incident Management teams (or whatever you like to call your team), Business Continuity Teams, and especially Information Technology Disaster Recovery (ITDR) teams. Frequent, repeated exercises build confidence.
Confidence among the team(s) themselves, confidence in managers and executives of the business, and confidence from your customers and business partners. The most important place to build this confidence is among the teams that are doing the recovery work.
As you might expect, a lack of conducting exercises among your teams has the opposite effect. It can cause your team to break down and literally destroys their confidence, which also negatively impacts recovery times and overall recovery.
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Tags: Business Continuity, Leadership, Risk Management
Separating the Best from the Rest: An Analysis of Why Business Preparedness Is Critical in an Uncertain Future
Keith Erwood
April 05, 2022
Over the past few years, business leaders have been reminded repeatedly of the unpredictability of doing business in an uncertain future. This has certainly been the case for the past two years as business owners faced devastation from both humanitarian and natural disasters.
As the world gets riskier, being prepared for disruptions and disasters impacting your business is extremely important. Why? In addition to preventing severe financial losses, it can prevent companies from “closing their doors”.
To celebrate April’s Financial Literacy Month, I will share examples of what happens when you do not have a plan and outline strategic steps on how to build a resilient organization during the next crisis.
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Tags: Business Continuity, Leadership, Risk Management
THE MAJOR THINGS I AM DOING NOW TO UP MY PREPAREDNESS
The Disaster Preparedness Blog
January 05, 2021
In the last month, I have stepped up my preparedness efforts in a major way. I have always been well prepared. I keep a nice stock of many things. From Food, Water, Medicine, and other items. Below are the major things I am doing now to up my preparedness for my family.
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Tags: Risk Management, Business Continuity
IF THERE WAS EVER A TIME TO PREPARE, THE TIME IS NOW!
The Disaster Preparedness Blog
January 04, 2021
I have been putting a call out to Prepare for a while now. The time is short, and, if there was ever a time to prepare, the time is now! We were well prepared before and I recently began scaling up our family preparedness efforts and put out the word to my followers that now is the time to stock up.
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Tags: Risk Management, Business Continuity, COVID19
How Business Continuity Provides Value to A Business
Erwood Group
October 27, 2020
How Business Continuity Provides Value to A Business. There are many ways in which Business Continuity can provide a business with tremendous value. Not just during an activation of the plan itself, which may keep the business from suffering substantial losses, but even during times of normal business operations. How? You ask!
The first and most obvious to many is that business continuity planning helps organizations obtain reduced premiums on insurance. Another is that it assists in providing consistency across the enterprise and increased efficiency. Let’s look at each of these and others in more detail.
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Tags: Leadership, Risk Management, Business Continuity
How to Get ‘Unstuck’ In Your Contingency Planning
Erwood Group
October 01, 2020
Throughout the course of my career spanning over 25 plus years, I’ve witnessed many planners and organizations getting stuck during their continuity planning. This happens for a variety of reasons including how you manage the overall program. Here are some important ways on how to get ‘unstuck’ in your contingency planning.
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Tags: Leadership, Business Strategy, Business Continuity
The Problem With Downloading Those Templates to Complete Your Business Continuity Plans
LinkedIn
August 05, 2020
The biggest problem with downloading templates off the internet…
No one completes them! At least no one completes them accurately, and they delete items they incorrectly believe are unimportant to the process. That’s a problem.
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Tags: Risk Management, Business Continuity
People Always Ask Me How I Got Started Helping Businesses Prepare for the Unexpected. Here is My Story…
LinkedIn
August 02, 2020
I was offered a job as a consultant with the Fire Department Operations Center (FDOC) but legal told me I couldn’t take it. They also said I would have to quit and have zero contact with anyone from the FDNY in order to take a consulting job with the department.
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Tags: Leadership, Risk Management, Business Continuity
WANT TO KNOW THE TOP THREE THINGS THAT SCARE ME?
The Disaster Preparedness Blog
July 01, 2020
Yes, a pandemic scares me. I watched as this one unfolded in China and eventually spread around the globe. I watch China and other parts of Asia for potential outbreaks because throughout history, most of the diseases have started in China and Asia before spreading.
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Tags: Risk Management, Business Continuity, COVID19
Businesses face challenges in Reopening after Coronavirus
Erwood Group
June 17, 2020
Businesses face challenges in reopening after Coronavirus. Why? Well, there are several reasons, from temperature checks and whether to do them, even if you can. Sourcing cleaning supplies, added security, enforcing social distancing, and finding out employees don’t want to return to work yet.
In this post, I mention some of these issues and provide some recommendations on how to handle each situation to make your reopening a little bit smoother.
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Tags: Health and Safety, Business Continuity, COVID19
Handling Customers After Reopening During Coronavirus
Erwood Group
June 12, 2020
The article provides guidance to businesses on handling customers during COVID-19. Including implementing guidelines, rules, protocols, and what to do if a customer refuses to comply.
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Tags: Business Strategy, COVID19, Health and Safety
Reopening Your Business After the COVID-19 Shutdown
Erwood Group
June 10, 2020
There are a number of considerations and requirements you need to implement when Reopening Your Business After the COVID-19 Shutdown. This article and blog post provides detailed information on reopening your business safely during coronavirus.
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Tags: Business Continuity, COVID19, Health and Safety
DISASTER TIP OF THE WEEK: PREPARE TO ADAPT TO CHANGES IN YOUR LIFE
The Disaster Preparedness Blog
May 26, 2020
Sometimes, life causes us to make changes. One's we didn't really plan for. In the last few years I have had to change my plans and the way I prep. I went from being a Bug-Out person to one of Bugging-in. Let me share the story.
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Tags: Risk Management, Business Continuity
SCENARIO OF THE MONTH: AN ICE-STORM WRECKS HAVOC
The Disaster Preparedness Blog
November 21, 2019
It is Mid-November. After a week of above-average temperatures and some heavy rain. A massive cold front has moved into your area causing an ice-storm and covering everything in layers of ice.
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Tags: Risk Management, Business Continuity
DISASTER TIP OF THE WEEK: SET MEETING POINTS TO REUNITE WITH FAMILY AND LOVED ONES
Disaster Preparedness Blog
October 17, 2019
How to set meeting points to reunite with family members and loved ones after getting separated during a major disaster.
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Tags: Health and Safety, Health and Wellness
HOME SECURITY FOLLOW UP - SOME THINGS I'VE DONE IN MY OWN HOME
Disaster Preparedness Blog | Keith Erwood
February 25, 2013
In the last post, I talked about Home Security Considerations. Now, I'd like to follow up a bit and tell you more about what I have done with my home. While I will not cover everything we did in our home for obvious reasons I plan on giving you some low-cost but effective means and examples of what you can do to secure your premises.
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Tags: Security
HOME SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
Disaster Preparedness Blog | Keith Erwood
February 14, 2013
Home security is an oft-overlooked preparedness measure and should be thought about and planned out well in advance. First, there are two ways we are going to look at security here; your everyday security and security for a bugging-in situation.
For everyday security, it would be impossible for me to address every possible situation and provide specific advice to a broad audience, so let’s take a look at some good sound basics.
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Tags: Security
ARE YOU PREPARED FOR AN ACTIVE SHOOTER? STEPS YOU CAN TAKE TO PREPARE TODAY!
Disaster Preparedness Blog
August 09, 2010
Keith offers advice on what to do during an active shooter event. From, what is an active shooter (Keith still prefers to use the term spree killer)? to what to do to mitigate the occurrence and what to do if it happens to you.
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Tags: Business Continuity, Health and Safety, Risk Management
EARTHQUAKE SAFETY -- WHAT TO DO BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER AN EARTHQUAKE
Disaster Preparedness Blog
April 05, 2010
Provides detailed information in preparing for an earthquake including what to do during and after an earthquake.
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Tags: Health and Safety
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
Disaster Preparedness Blog
August 09, 2009
This brief article discusses workplace violence and what to do about it.
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Tags: Health and Safety, Leadership, Risk Management
BUSINESS TIPS FOR SURVIVING THE FINANCIAL CRISIS, PART 2 OF A SERIES
Disaster Preparedness Blog | Keith Erwood
November 19, 2008
In today’s economic climate banks are either cutting back on lending or just not lending altogether. When they are lending, they are making it difficult for businesses even with excellent credit to get a loan. Some may dispute this claim so I am including links to sources below that document that this is happening.
This makes it tough for businesses to get by; many have difficulty in meeting payroll or working with vendors to get supplies they need to stay in business. It becomes especially tough for businesses when they are working on various types of terms that require them to have some time pass before being paid, such as 30-Day Net Terms which is the most common.
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Tags: Risk Management
BUSINESS TIPS FOR SURVIVING THE FINANCIAL CRISIS, PART 1 OF A SERIES
Disaster Preparedness Blog | Keith Erwood
November 17, 2008
This is the first in a series of posts I will be making on doing business during tough economic times. Hope you enjoy reading and that it will help you see your business through this financial crisis.
Let’s face it, times are tough, and they will get tougher as the financial crisis we are in will likely get worse. Even if the bailout works, it will take months, if not a year or two before we start to see a positive impact, perhaps even longer if decisions made make the crisis worse.
During a financial crisis, as with other calamities businesses need a plan in order to see the crisis through. There are many things businesses can do to take action in order to survive the tough financial times ahead. Some of these decisions will be hard calls to make, such as worker layoffs or declaring bankruptcy, (Chapter 11) which allows for restructuring.
One thing that is important to remember is not to have knee-jerk reactions or make sudden decisions without thinking them through which generally will cause overreaction. Overreaction will require further steps to correct any bad decisions and may also lead to overcorrection.
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Tags: Risk Management
How To Avoid Getting ‘Stuck’ In The BIA Phase Episode #5
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December 07, 2020
In this episode, I discuss how to avoid getting stuck in the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) phase of your business continuity planning. This is a common problem in many organizations and I’ve seen it many times during my career. I even had a recent conversation with a colleague where he witnes
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Tags: Leadership, Risk Management, Business Continuity
Creating the Foundation to Your Business Continuity Plan Episode #4
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November 23, 2020
Starting with deterring critical business processes and core business functions and moving to Risk Assessments and Business Impact Analysis and finally on to critical business applications. This Episode of Beyond Resilience provides a look at and guidance to building the foundational setting of your
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Tags: Business Continuity, Leadership, Risk Management
Why Business Continuity Plans Fail Episode #3
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November 16, 2020
Why Business Continuity Plans Fail. The 12 Common Causes and How to Prevent Them.
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Tags: Business Continuity, Leadership, Risk Management
How Business Continuity Provides Value Episode #2
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November 09, 2020
Business Continuity Planning and programs provide tremendous value to the businesses that implement them. In this episode of Beyond Resilience we outline 23 ways that business contingency planning provides value to your business.
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Tags: Business Continuity, Leadership, Risk Management
Introduction to the Beyond Resilience Podcast Episode #1
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November 04, 2020
Welcome to the Beyond Resilience Podcast. This episode provides an introduction to the podcast, your Host, Keith Erwood, and the Erwood Group, where we talk about the purpose of this podcast. I will provide you valuable and actionable content about business continuity planning, disaster recovery, cr
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Tags: Business Continuity, Leadership, Risk Management
Preview of the Beyond Resilience Podcast Episode 0.1
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November 02, 2020
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Tags: Business Continuity, Leadership, Risk Management
25 Ways To Increase Your Business Resilience
Co-Founder of Erwood Group
The 16 Most Essential Books for Business Continuity Directors
Basic Risk Assessment Tool
Basic Downtime Calculator
Helping Your Business Remain In Business - Erwood Group
Endurance
5 Key Areas of All Hazard Contingency Planning - All Hazards Blueprint for Business
The True Cost of Downtime and the Business Case for Business Continuity
A Guide to Protecting Your Business
Why Business Continuity Plans Fail 12 Common Causes and How to Prevent Them
