FAQ
What makes American Security Network so different from other firms?
First, we are the only firm
that we know of that has designed a method that should produce a ROI
(return on investment) when it comes to Crisis Management Planning
and Disaster Recovery. This return will be realized and can be
measured either in profits or in productivity or both.
Second, our diagnostic
tool will test your preparedness without disruption of major
activities.
Third, the President and CEO
of ASN are the managers of your project from start to finish not an
associate. They will meet with the client, plan all activities and
implement the program with your senior executives and other staff
who in turn distribute to other employees the
"Diagnostic Formulas that will improve
your organization's crisis preparedness." Immediately.
Click on the tab labeled “Results” which will list the
overall benefits from our efforts.
Click
on the Vulnerability tab for a sample scenario to test recovery
time and actions of staff which we sent out before the famous
blackout in August 2003.
American Security Network are the experts in asking the What if's,
which is a completely different discipline than finance, legal,
business management, human resource, marketing or sales.
The
Boy Scout Motto is "Be Prepared" You will be with our professional
network.
The
CEO and President alone have authored manuals, documents, books,
and plans that have become policy and doctrine for a number
of governmental agencies, including the Army, and multi
national organizations with offices and employees on five
continents.
Our
goal is simple your success.
To state
it simply, we start at the foundation of your organization the
people first, than the systems, than the technology : (See also
Who Should Participate?)
We gather
the necessary information using our proprietary formulas and
other methods which provide critical data for analysis of
threats, risks, usage and vulnerabilities which will help
you avoid many crises in the future.
We than document and design
strategies a step by step guide, a to do check list for each
area, and also discuss where this information should be kept for
future access in the event of a power failure, a major blackout,
or worse.
Next, the Risk Mitigation
aspect will identify, quantify and develop and/or review your
existing strategies that will take your organization from risk
through a crisis and finally confirming, adding and/or creating
your new recovery and the continuity plans.
Finally
design exercises that really work and have an outcome that be
scored or cause a change, update or addendum to the plans, and
most important confirming what was learned by each
group/individual from each exercise. The key word in scenario
testing or exercise is the expense.
ASN has
years of experience developing very very cost
effective procedures using (CRI) Criterion Reference Instruction
methodology for determining the (TLO) Terminal Learning
Objectives needed to make your staff crisis prepared and not
crisis prone.
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Test the following Presumptions and
do they apply to your organization?
Most organizations concentrate their resources and
efforts on crisis containment, damage limitation and litigation.
Some organizations dedicate time, equipment, and manpower to
crisis preparation and planning for business recovery.
Few
organizations allocate any resources to detecting the warning
signals of impending crises.
Do these statements apply to your organization? True or False?
My recovery
exercises lack tangible results validating “ readiness”
Simulated recovery exercises are labor-intensive and expensive to
conduct
Recovery exercises fail to test for performance / scalability due to
limitations of manual testing methods.
If you answer true then you already know you need help and quickly
and more important within budget. The good news is the programs ASN
will implement at your facility and with the help of your staff will
more than justify the out of pocket expense and perhaps cover the
entire cost due to savings generated in other areas.
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Is there a pre-formulated crisis plan or procedure that can be
pulled off the shelf?
The answer is
absolutely NO!
It is possible however to determine:
Where you are prepared and
Where you are vulnerable!
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What are the Keys
To Success In A Crisis?
Complete
knowledge of your job, your organization/company, and the situation
Comprehensive
crisis plan, including post-crisis recovery strategy
Well-trained
management team who believes in your plan 100 percent
Full support
of employees, suppliers, and industry observers
Strong
relations with news media
Awareness of
what others think and say about you
The above
is from the Echols Media and Issues Management Group
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What are the 3 top
reasons to Mitigate:
from the Institute for Crisis,
Disaster, and Risk Management
Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website George Washington
University April 2003
The basic
principle of mitigation is to reduce the risk of –social, political
or economic-loss. In the hazard management world mitigation is
defined as those "actions taken to permanently eliminate or reduce
the long-term risk to human life, property, and function from
hazards."
Reason # 1.
Threat.
Refers to the evidence stating a real exposure to risk, a danger for
economic, personal or material loss. Indication of direct or
indirect damages as well as those seen as secondary effects.
Reason # 2 Access.
Refers not only to knowledge or technology resources, but also to
the actual cost of the necessary mitigation measures. Affordable
costs that would allow me take a step towards mitigation without
burden my economy.
Reason # 3 Gain.
Information determining benefits. Benefits are usually calculated as
the difference between estimation of damages without and damages
occurred with mitigation measures.
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Can I and
other staff learn Crisis Management?
The answer is YES!
Crisis Management is About Critical Thinking!
Not about consultants or experts.
We provide you the detailed practical knowledge, tools, and
techniques that you need to get ready for virtually any crisis
situation—before it happens.
American Security Network is different from other firms because we
make you the experts by changing your mind set to an awareness
culture.
*Effective CM Is Complex but It Can Be Learned and Mastered.*
Skills are needed to deal with controversy.
Your decision to embrace controversy as part of a marketing strategy
will:
Help CEO’s, Corporate Officers and Managers take advantage of
spur-of the moment negative events and make them into opportunities.
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Do an extensive crisis audit of your
entire organization. The goal should be to know in advance every
major crisis waiting to happen.
Expose as
many secrets about your organization as possible. The goal is to
know the worst about yourself before others do. In a major crisis,
everything about your organization will be exposed.
It is not
enough to know the worst about oneself unless one is willing to do
something serious to correct it as soon as possible. The media
will not only want to know what you knew when, but what you did,
and did not do, about it and why.
Get media
training for all of your top executives before a major crisis
occurs. During a crisis is the worst possible place and time to
learn the skills one needs to know.
Get crisis management team training for all of your top executives
before a major crisis occurs. Your top executives will have to
function as a tight-knit, coordinated, and integrated team if it
is to respond quickly and properly during a major crisis.
Do not
confuse crisis communications with crisis management. Unless
crisis communications is part of a larger program of crisis
management, it will fail miserably. Unlike crisis communications,
which is mainly reactive and focuses on one aspect of the system,
crisis management is proactive and focuses on the whole system.
Put in
systems that will pick up the early warning signals, which
forewarn all crises. There is always somebody in the system and
organization who knows and sees a potential crisis waiting to
happen. Reward and do not kill the messengers of bad news.
Train and
simulate for the worst. Understand that it is not what you are
prepared for that will occur, but it is also what you have not
thought about and are not prepared for, that will occur.
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What to do during a Crisis?
From AMA American Management Association Books Catalog
"Managing Crises Before They Happen"
Fire the “spin doctors!” Get rid of
communication professionals that are only interested in reacting to
a crisis with “spin,” rather than finding and preparing for
potential crises.
Tell the worst about yourself as soon and as completely as possible.
The truth will come out anyway and will only prolong and worsen the
crisis. Often, the only control you have over a crisis is what to
release and when. But you will quickly lose this if you do not
release everything you know.
Do not blame others, it will only worsen the crisis.
Do not give statistics as to why you acted or did not act the way
you did. Statistics are not only meaningless to most people, but
they are cold and, therefore, an indication of guilt and callowness,
especially if there were deaths and serious injuries.
Remember that above all you will be judged on your moral character.
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