How to organize crisis units for emergencies
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, companies have realized the importance of setting up crisis units. These are essential for dealing with the many crises that are disrupting companies. In this article, we explain why you should set up a crisis unit and how to organize it to best deal with emergencies.
Why do you need to prepare a crisis unit?
When we talk about a crisis, we’re really dealing with a vast array of unexpected events that create uncertainty. And there are many eventualities: a pandemic situation, a fire on company premises, a cyber-attack or a leak of sensitive information. In 2021 , the rise of ransomware is expected: cyber attackers will innovate in phishing lures, taking advantage of security flaws linked to teleworking, and soon those linked to the rollout of 5G.
Dealing with these events is essential to ensure business continuity and corporate sustainability. All the more so as the duration of such events is unknown, and this is a source of great concern for employees. In this context, the crisis unit is essential, and should be conceived as a fortress for crisis management.
If poorly managed, such a situation can have disastrous, sometimes irreparable consequences:
- the company’s reputation plummets
- customer attrition, leading to almost immediate loss of sales
- fear among employees
- loss of partner confidence
- company bankruptcy.
Tips for preparing your crisis unit to better manage events
A number of recent studies, by Gartner and Deloitte among others, have revealed some key insights into how companies manage crises:
- only 12% of companies were truly prepared for the Covid-19 crisis. For the vast majority of companies, the initial containment was a major upheaval, reshuffling the crisis management deck.
- only 2% of crisis managers believe that their company’s business will no longer be affected by the pandemic.
- 60% of those in charge of crisis management consider that there are far more crises in companies today than there were 10 years ago.
- Nearly 90% of companies reviewed their crisis management priorities once they had experienced a crisis. This suggests that the lessons are not learned until after the event.
- While around 90% of companies declared themselves ready to manage a corporate crisis, only 17% actually succeeded.
Improving a company’s resilience inevitably involves setting up a tailor-made crisis unit. However, there are a number of steps you can take to prepare for these unexpected events:
- develop collaborative tools to facilitate document and information sharing. All with a view to ensuring the continuity of business processes. Not forgetting the importance of controls and security
- opt for a multi-channel digital strategy to sustain sales activity. Digital transformation is essential here. Today, digitalization has become widespread and has brought with it a wide range of challenges that companies need to face up to. These often come with a sense of urgency
- providing employees with the tools they need to manage reliable data. When faced with a crisis, employees feel a surge of stress that spills over into their work. If they don’t have verified sources and reliable data, they are potentially more anxious.
DiliTrust’s data room solution helps you face crises head on and prevents them from becoming setbacks.
Covid-19 is an example of an unprecedented corporate crisis. And this example has unfortunately led to increased concern about the future of many of the structures affected.
To ensure that you never again suffer these destabilizing events, you need to prepare for the future with the help of personalized crisis units. DiliTrust’s data room solution ensures business continuity in all circumstances. The tool is fully secure and certified to ISO 27001, ISO 27701, and SOC 2. Regular audits ensure that even the most experienced hackers are protected. Connection is via double authentication, for even greater security.
What’s more, your users can access the entire document pool, or just a single file if you wish, for customized access management. With no storage limits and unlimited volume, your document pool is the solution for any crisis you may face.
