Today’s business environments are changing how companies operate as we know them. So it is vital to have all business operations running even when externalities threaten the day-to-day operations. Today, we can see the threat of externalities such as COVID, which have massive impacts on businesses around the world. But clients still need to be attended to.
That is why it’s vital to choose a critical event management system tailored to the company’s needs. Critical Event Management Systems take manual processes and automate them while amplifying ad-hoc data to provide intelligence. These systems use this data to find correlations with locations of assets and people, enabling better identification of threats and methods to remedy them.
But before you choose a Critical Event Management System, there are some questions you need to ask about your organization and the solution you’re considering.
#1. What threats do you expect for your organization?
As mentioned before, there is a list of threats that you would already foresee to be substantial that would threaten the smooth operations of your business. Critical Event Management Systems can be used to address natural and manufactured disasters, but there can also be other risks that you wouldn’t have planned for.
In addition to handling the threat, you will also need protocols to inform stakeholders, provide assurance to impacted staff and customers, provide instructions to those taking the situation, and a secure crisis communication channel to ensure that all communications involving the threat are read-only by the necessary parties.
#2. Who Will Use the Critical Event Management System?
Not everyone is going to be using the critical event management system. However, some users will need to know what the event is, the dangers of the event, and who are the best people to handle the situations.
By getting a clear picture of who will be using the CEM solution, you can also figure out how they will be using it, such as which devices they’ll be using it on, the platform’s complexity, user experience, and the features necessary.
These are all factors that will have a significant impact on how you choose a solution.
#3. What is Lacking in Your Current CEM Solution?
Most organizations use CEM solutions to improve how their existing operations operate.
You can figure out what’s currently lacking by listing out your current pain points, the manual steps you’re taking in response management, and how you can automate specific actions.
This defines the scope and requirements for you to use during the evaluation phase of other CEM solutions.
#4. Will your Employee and Asset Data Change Frequently?
Depending on how frequently your asset and team member data changes, CEM solutions have different data protection methods.
Some of them require a manual data upload, while others will do it automatically. If your organization has constant changes and updates in data, it makes sense to get a solution to automate the data upload.
Another thing to note is the physical access of data. If you have only a few physical locations where the data can be accessed, then the CEM solution you’re considering doesn’t need an automated mapping solution. On the other hand, if you have many locations worldwide, your data needs to be mapped for multiple sites and monitored so that secure crisis communication isn’t impacted when an attack or crash happens.
These factors make it easier to narrow down on solutions when choosing a critical event management system.
#5. Which Critical Events and Data Matter the Most to You?
When you choose a critical event management system, you will need to consider the type of data you want to protect and the essential kind of event data that you want to have within your platform.
This can vary based on your location, the assets you have, and what type of risks you can foresee for your organization. In addition, some CEM platforms do not offer all kinds of data security, and there will be some solutions that require you to lock into a vendor. At such times, it is best to choose a vendor-agnostic solution.
#6. Is Scalability a Factor to Consider? Will Your Organization’s Needs Change Over Time?
We talked about vendor lock-in in the previous point, and that can prove to be problematic. An inflexible contract with a vendor can be an issue for many organizations. Suppose your organization is growing and your needs change. In that case, you will want to opt for a solution that can scale according to your needs, not just in terms of the amount of data that you have but also the types of data that you want to protect, as well as the types of crisis events that you want to safeguard against.
You may even have to look into protecting new data sources, require more features from your CEM solution, and accommodate a lot more users than you initially set out to do. Your organization will have to do due diligence to ensure that any platform you choose is ready to take all of this into account.
Conclusion
Whether you need backup data solutions or secure crisis communication avenues during an attack or crash, critical event management solutions are not the same. Every organization will have different requirements.
Figure out your organization’s requirements, what solutions are required, and how each CEM solution you’ve shortlisted saves your data and internal operations. After understanding these requirements, you can reach out to vendors who provide those same features. If you’re not fond of vendor lock-in for an extended period, then it will be prudent to choose a solution that doesn’t lock you into a vendor. Even if you’re selecting a vendor who locks you into their services, evaluate and verify if they have all the features and safeguards necessary to assist you when your organization scales up, and your needs change.