Previously we’ve looked at how an incident communication service (ICS), properly applied, can be the difference between expensive chaos and calm, orderly response. We also spoke to Bosbec’s owner and chairman Jakob Sjöberg about why businesses need such a service and how it functions in the real world.
During the course of that interview we established that there is no single industry that particularly benefits from an ICS – more that every business or organization encounters problems on a regular basis, some minor, some life-threatening. In all cases, however, good communication holds the key to a successful outcome.
There is one point though that keeps occurring – while it’s obviously the case that a good communication service can help resolve incidents, it’s perhaps less immediately evident that the applications are much broader. Intelligently applied, an ICS can be integrated into the daily workings of a business to help prevent incidents even occurring in the first place.
Prevention, not cure
While rapid response to an incident is crucial in terms of damage limitation (loss of revenue, impact on staff morale, impact on brand reputation, etc.), wouldn’t it be better if that incident never happened in the first place? Let’s take a real-world example.
A large pharmaceutical company holds stocks of drugs that need to be stored at a given temperature to be effective. If they’ve been improperly stored or transported, a major product recall needs to swing into place. In this scenario, it’s obviously essential that an ICS is in place to manage information flow, ensuring that distributors, hospitals, pharmacies, and patients are all promptly given the relevant information to minimize potential healthcare issues – and that PR needs to get on top of the incident to manage brand reputation.
With a good ICS, the downside is limited – but it still exists; it still has a cost and negative impact on business.
Brakes, then seatbelts
However, what if real-time temperature reporting was fed into the system at every stage of the storage and distribution chain? Administrators could ensure that specific triggers were put in place – if the temperature rose above a certain point, key personnel would be immediately notified, fixing the problem, or (if impossible) ensuring that relevant stock never made it to market. The result? No brand reputation damage and minimal loss in asset value.
To put it in motoring terms, when you get into the car, which would you rather have – brakes or seatbelts?
Smart thinking
We need to change the way we think about ICS – it needs to become an indispensable part of our everyday business process, not just something we dust off in an emergency. By integrating good, clear, effective communication of relevant information into every stage of our business operations, we might just be able to prevent incidents before they even happen.
As the flow of data between devices becomes faster and cheaper, the amount of information readily available for computation increases exponentially. In practice, this means that software can process input from a broader range of sources than ever before – and reach meaningful conclusions. The more we integrate this information – and the way that it’s communicated – into our daily business lives, the better we’ll be able to predict, anticipate, and ultimately avoid costly problems.
To learn more about how Bosbec’s incident communication service can benefit your business, visit www.bosbec.com/incident
