How Technology Can Supercharge Your Crisis Planning and Preparedness

Seemingly each day another company or organization faces a crisis, often fueled by social media, the ubiquity of smart phone video, and a culture where the facts sometimes don’t matter all that much. The idea of a “first hour response” as the gold standard is long ago in the rearview mirror, and the always on 24-hour news cycle optimizes “bad news” for virility. It’s no longer a matter of if a crisis will hit, but rather, when and how? 

The new playing field means that organizations can no longer simply rely on last year’s (or older) crisis plan or protocol. Recent history is strewn with organizations – and you know the names - who suffered from moving too slow or too fast; saying too much or not enough; not communicating in the right channels or to the right stakeholders; or just not being effective during a crisis. Even following the canon of rules of crisis communications – be prepared, be quick, be transparent, take responsibility, work together – while still the foundation of crisis response – may, in and of itself, not be sufficient. 

The good news is that there are a number of innovative technologies available to help organizations better prepare for and respond to crises in today’s environment. Predictive analytics, for example, is now being used to help organizations anticipate how an issue or crisis will drive news coverage and social media commentary within minutes of the first stories or posts. This enables an organization to quantify media impact, determine which stories about a brand are important now, monitor emerging trending topics, and analyze long-term audience trends to predict which issues may rise to the top. The new dynamic with the proliferation of news is that while an issue or crisis can grow very quickly it can also be eclipsed by a new topic just as quickly. Speaking when you don’t need to can actually add fuel to an issue. Predictive analytics helps organizationscan stay ahead of an unfolding issue or crisis and better determine if a situation warrants a response, and, if so, what should be communicated to stakeholders and when.

Another tool that is helping to supercharge crisis planning and response is the crisis app. Crisis apps provide an organization’s crisis team members with quick access to crisis plans from anywhere in the world, any time of day, 24/7, from the convenience of their smart phone. Protocols, procedures and contacts are immediately available to keep the organization’s leadership briefed and on message. Not only do crisis apps provide organizations with their crisis plan in an actionable format at the tap of an app, they also combine smartphone functionality with the plan itself – access to key contact directories, step by step procedures, checklists, incident forms, and links to external resources. They also enable real-time, secure communications to crisis teams and key decision makers in times of crisis and the ability to track key performance indicators in both emergency exercises and in real world events.  The result is faster, more effective internal response and alignment when an issue or crisis does hit. 

A third innovation is the use of high-quality, realistic crisis scenario injects, using social simulations, in crisis training. Crisis capability must be developed through regular training and testing. High impact, immersive crisis simulations provide the most effective way to help leaders to test their plans and practice their crisis roles prior to having to mount a real-world effective communications response. Crisis scenario injects and social simulations do this in part by delivering mock-ups of news reports and re-creations of major social media platforms.  These more realistic exercises offer a genuine opportunity for teams and leaders to rehearse their crisis roles and develop the confidence and capability needed to handle event the toughest of challenges. Table-top exercises that leverage simulations and injects provide the most realistic training experience for crisis teams to test their plans, evaluate response, and ensure readiness before a crisis strikes.   

Successfully managing a crisis has probably never been more challenging, but fortunately the rise of new technologies and tools can help address the realities organizations now face on this dynamic, frenetic and everchanging crisis playing field.