Note: (Delegates are able to choose to attend any workshops according to their needs and field of interests)

Critical, Strategic Review of your BC or DR Plan (By Appointment Only)

A closed door, at least 3-delegate participation, each team from a single organization can present for 15 minutes their BC or DR plan to a panel of 3 experts for critical review. In their presentation would be their Threat Assessment, BIA and the resultant BCP or DRP. The panel members would hear the presentations, formulate their opinions and raise questions.
Following the presentation, there is a maximum 30 minute Q&A during which team members may solicit specific expert advice concerning their BC or DR plan presented.
There would be 3 team slots of 45 minutes each, and teams may tape their presentation. If required, the panel is able to sign NDAs. Eligibility to present at this workshop is based on a minimum of 5 members of the team to sign up as conference participants, and order of presentation is based on first team-to-register basis.

Panelists: Ms Sharon Chan, BCCE CBCP Senior Vice President, RHB Investment Bank (BC); Fong Choon Khin Group CIO/Parkway(DR); Dr Goh Moh Heng, BCCE CBCP FBCI, President, BCM Institute (BC); Mr Goh Kheng Seng, BCCE ex-Senior Vice President of US Bank (DR)

1. Pandemic Flu Tabletop Exercise

A global pandemic influenza outbreak represents one of the most catastrophic threats to any government, its agencies and individual businesses alike. In preparing for such a threat, organizations must work closely with a number of partners, including emergency management agencies, law enforcement agencies, elected officials, and, most important, healthcare agencies and providers. This exercise- simulation relies on a “forced decision-making” framework, which requires participants to make key decisions at each discussion point after they have had time to consider the scenario and the information provided to them at a specified point in time. Participants are given 30 minutes to make one or two key decisions at each discussion point.The exercise builds on tabletop-exercise methodologies developed and refined by BCM Institute. The tabletop exercise scenario is broad-base for participants from diverse backgrounds to work together, yet representative of the local area being tested and to be flexible in the size, scale, and scope of the pandemic itself. The exercise is led by a facilitator who presents participants with chronological segments of a scenario separated by a series of discussion points that enable participants to describe how they would respond to the evolving scenario at isolated points in time.

Facilitator: Rose Lam BCCE CBCP, Managing Consultant, GMH and team

2a. Crisis Management Tabletop Exercise

A commitment from the BCM Institute to help organizations plan and conduct increasingly complex but all-encompassing exercises when participants take back templates & lessons from this simulation. The objective is to achieve and maintain competency in executing the crisis management plan. Simulates an emergency situation in an informal, stress-free environment, and is designed to elicit discussion as participants examine and resolve problems based on existing crisis management plans. This activity, a fully simulated interactive exercise, is designed to: promote emergency preparedness; test or evaluate emergency operations, policies, plans, procedures or facilities, train personnel in emergency duties, and demonstrate operational capabilities. An informal discussion is also designed to familiarize participants with roles, plans, procedures, and resolve questions of coordination and assignment of responsibilities.
Facilitators: Ms Carolyn Lock, BCCE CBCP, HDS with Ms Irene Lye, BCCE CBCP, Wearnes

2b. Crisis Communications

How should we deal with the media during a crisis or an issue? All eyes will be on how you and your organization handle a crisis and issue. And crisis communications is all the more imperative in today’s world, with instant connectivity, news delivered to your mobile phones or even emails, as well as the news cycle that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. One of the deliverables of this crisis communications workshop is to give you and your organization a better understanding of what crisis communications is and the importance of having a basic crisis communications plan in place. A crisis is any situation that threatens the integrity or reputation of your company, usually brought on by adverse or negative media attention. These situations can be any kind of legal dispute, theft, accident, fire, flood or man-made disaster that could be attributed or linked to your company. It can also be a situation where in the eyes of the media or general public, your company did not react to one of the above situations in the appropriate manner. This definition is not all encompassing but rather is designed to give you an idea for the types of situations where you may need to follow this plan. The lead facilitator is a senior director from Hill & Knowlton and a regular at BCM Institute’s Meet The Expert sessions. The topics and discussions are, as always, lively and relevant to BC and DR participants.

Ms Farah Abdul Rahim, Account Director, Hill and Knowlton SEA Pte Ltd

Current virtualization technology is very popular for server consolidation, and the concept of using virtualization in a disaster recovery environment is getting popular for a variety of reasons. In the past, it has been expensive to get one server to replicate to the other because those two servers had to be basically identical for complete replication. In order for them to be identical, you needed the same hardware in both the main and backup locations. With virtualization, those hardware costs are cut down significantly because of the ability to host several machines on one server. Meet virtualization consultants from VMware who will demonstration how using virtual machines and data replication can be pillars in a DRP framework. They would simulate physical to virtual disaster recovery.Participants keen in implementing VMware’s methodology while attending BCM Institute’s hallmark DRP300 course can branch into Day2/Day3’s DRP300 & VMware’s Virtualization Induction Course, leading to a special DRCS accreditation in Virtualization Technology.

Lee Poh Wah, Regional Manager, VMware with David Tay, DRCE, and Gary Teo, DRCE CBCP, UniSim

4a. SS540:2008 & changes to your BC and DR plans

‘The {Singapore) Government is encouraging businesses to attain the Technical Reference (TR) 19 Business Continuity Management Standard, a framework developed in 2005 to help businesses recover when crisis strikes. In the long run, it may also be compulsory for firms supplying the Government with essential services to be certified with TR19.

A task force has been formed to help companies in the public and private sectors become TR19-certified. It is led by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) with other agencies like the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). It could cost a company S$5,000 - S$500,000 to be TR19-ready. However, businesses are urged to view the cost as an investment for the future.’ (Taken verbatim from Spring’s website)

Enough said & quoted. How does it impact our BC and DR planning and plans? The instructor is one of the original authors of the code, and would give insights into tweaking your plans to meet anticipated Government requirements.

Dan Steele, MBCI, Chairperson, BCM Committee, Singapore Business Federation with Lim Sek Seong, BCCE CBCP, Vice President, BCM Institute

4b. BS 25999 & implementing Phase 2 Audit

In other parts of the globe, a standard approach to Business Continuity Management (BCM) has been mooted and suggested for decades. The recent result is the British Standard 25999 (of which TR19 is its estranged cousin?) the long awaited Code of Practice for Business Continuity Management that provides general guidance on a broad range of business continuity management issues.

Including in it is a Specification that defines a management systems approach to business continuity management or those parts which can be objectively audited. Those organizations that comply with the Specification have to demonstrate to internal and external stakeholders that appropriate business continuity management systems are in place and managed on an ongoing basis. To implement your BC & DR activities under this standard requires some mind & resource bending. We have BSI’s BS25999 expert to assess your plans and answer any questions.

Venkataram Arabolu, Managing Director, BSI with Dhiraj Lal, BCCE CBCP, Country Manager, BCM Institute (India)

5. Risks & Security Management

5a) Security Master Planning – A cornerstone to support effective business continuity planning and management

Since the days of 9/11, it has become clear that no amount of planning can ever be too much. The effectiveness of any network of security devices is only as good as the planning that goes into its implementation. And the cornerstone of the most sophisticated implementation is security master planning. Sound security master planning not only mitigates the threats a facility is vulnerable to, it also forms the foundation for effective business continuity in the event defenses are breeched and catastrophe occurs. An effective and well-balanced security master plan takes into consideration the business’ vision and mission, business needs and operational processes among other factors as the foundation, before carrying out a Threat, Vulnerability and Risk Assessment, which is more than drawing up a list of all the potential threats you can think of. This is where security professionals come in to assess the various risk levels for individual threats, taking into account factors such as the likelihood of occurring and the implications on occurrence, with a mechanism involving both qualitative and quantitative analysis. This seminar will provide insights to how a security master plan can be properly designed to facilitate the development of a strong Business Continuity Plan, and the process, challenges and techniques security professionals undertake to ensure the highest mitigation of threats to a particular facility for the safety of its occupants.

Speaker: Mr Tan Chong Kuan, Principal Consultant, Director, STET Homeland Security

5b) Security Profiling – As a form of Risk Management

The threat of terrorism is pervasive. The current trend has been identified as transnational terrorism which has a clear global reach, employs particularly sophisticated methods and is aimed at causing catastrophic outcomes. Preparedness reduces catastrophe and one of the essential factors is for the security management to train its personnel to deal with criminal and terrorist threats. With this in view, STET Homeland Security has designed this particular topic of “Security Profiling” as a form of Risk Management in tackling the malicious threats of terrorism as well as reducing crime rate. Security Profiling is a powerful tool for mitigating criminal and terrorist acts. It is the antithesis of racial profiling and adopts a method of situational and behavioural assessment designed to predict and categorise the potential for terrorist/criminal behaviour. It focuses on security resources where they are most effective and provides a framework that supports community-oriented policing and customer service without inhibiting civil rights and freedom to the majority of people who are law-abiding citizens.

5c) Bomb Threat Management – Ensuring Business Continuity

Bombs and the threat of their use have become the primary weapons of the terrorist. A bomb threat is also an effective means of disrupting business. Although there is no foolproof means of securing a facility from a bomb threat, a well-managed plan will enable a business to deal with an incident properly and reduce the potential for personal injury and property damage. This seminar provides guidelines to manage potential bomb threat incidents to reduce disruption to the business.

Speaker: Mr Zainal Abidin Hussain, Security Consultant, STET Homeland Security

5d) Challenging Environments in Asia requires Response Planning

Operations in Asia Pacific are increasingly challenging in view of major incidents in past few years such as terrorism, floods, earthquakes, extended power outages and epidemics. As organizations look to expand their business operations in Asia Pacific region, BCP practitioners must be aware of the business risks and safety/security challenges. The risks and challenges in the region includes natural disasters, lack of infrastructure, impoverished populations, environmental degradation and laxity, avian flu, complex government relations, insurgencies and terrorism. The presentation will include discussion of these challenges as well as mitigation strategies to include response planning, crisis management, evacuation planning, medical concerns, security and emergency procedures.