Nervous about future power related business continuity threats?

Power reliability already a serious issue for many businesses; and the situation is likely to deteriorate.

Over 75 percent of companies have suffered power issues in the past twelve months according to a recent industry survey. The research questioned 2000 UK based IT and data centre professionals regarding the current state of the energy supply industry in the United Kingdom. The survey also revealed the level of concern business users have over the reliability of power in the future – with 78 percent of those questioned agreeing with the statement: 'The reliability of power in the UK is going to become a major concern for my business in the next ten years'.

The views of those questioned reflect statements made by energy regulator Ofgem, who earlier this year claimed Britain faces severe power cuts over the next decade unless government ministers take greater control of the privatised gas and electricity network.

The gloomy assessment of the UK's power stations, claimed there were serious doubts that the current system, deriving from privatisation 20 years ago, will be able to cope with the increased demand.

Renton continued: "Businesses are faced everyday with rising costs and increased legislation relating to energy but what they aren't seeing is the investment in the next stage of infrastructure to provide affordable energy for the future. OEMs are doing everything they can to reduce power consumption and every new product boast's energy efficiency as a key selling point but this isn't enough. Many business leaders believe that government investment in new energy generation is insufficient, and as the survey demonstrates, those questioned are deeply concerned about how they are going to afford to run their businesses in the years to come.

"The answer can not only come from efficient equipment, it has to also come from the energy suppliers. At the moment, businesses are not seeing the shift towards renewable and sustainable energy happening quick enough – something has to change."

Supply chain vulnerabilities likely to rise. Cyber, ‘hacker’, pirate and terrorist attacks are expected to rise across the global supply chain over the next 20 years and firms should plan now to protect their assets, says a new PwC report.

Volume 4 of the ‘Transport & Logistics’ 2030 series: Securing the Supply Chain’, warns that cyber attacks are now so sophisticated that any business, or even country, could be at risk. The report, undertaken jointly with the Supply Chain Management Institute (SMI) at EBS Business School in Germany, surveyed 80 executives across business, science and government. Participants were asked to assess the probability of a variety of hypotheses on a scale of 0-100 percent.

On average those surveyed said there was a 56 percent probability of a rise in attacks in some form. It is not just cyber attacks that firms need to prepare for, the report says, they also need to be prepared to handle natural or man-made disasters. Overall, those surveyed said they were even more concerned with hacker attacks affecting their supply chains than they were actual physical attacks. Recent research also shows that the German internet, for example, is attacked every two seconds.

Klaus-Dieter Ruske, partner and Global Transportation and Logistics Industry Leader at PwC, said: “The supply relationships between producers, suppliers and consumers have become more complex and more accident-sensitive in the last few years. Today 90 percent of the worldwide trading volume is concentrating on about 39 gateway regions. If only a single one of these hubs fails, the economic consequences could be enormous after just a short period of time, and affect most economies around the globe.

“As a consequence of the increasing threat, the transportation and logistics companies' expenditures on security will broadly rise. Thus, capital investment on security, also on security of IT systems, will be one of the most important cost drivers of the logistics industry.”

Businesses are urged to devise and execute contingency plans now as the economic impact of such attacks could be devastating, the report says.Assaults on certain, highly-frequented ‘chokepoints’, a geographic bottleneck with only one narrow transport link across a valley or bridge, are predicted to be potential targets. Some examples of chokepoints in global shipping include the Strait of Homuz, the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal.

Egypt, for example, already loses more than $640mn each year because shipping companies are avoiding the passage through the piracy-threatened Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal. In spite of the rising risk there will not be any renunciation of highly diversified international division of work, according to the report.

Survey respondents said there was a 70 percent probability of logistics companies having to perform obligatory security checks on their whole supply chain, and they said there was a 60 percent probability that modern technology would offer businesses better protection.Freight screening as well as ‘risk’ profiling of employees, and using trusted shipping operators, will also help businesses stay ahead of the hackers, the report adds.

Klaus-Dieter Ruske added: “Enterprises will have to analyse and counteract every possible scenario of danger to protect their supply chains. It is not just about prevention, but also about developing alternatives for the case of emergency. Thus every enterprise should be prepared to quickly compensate any drop out of a supplier.”

For a copy of the study visit www.pwc.com/tl2030

The Heatwave Plan for England for 2011, with accompanying public information has been launched.

Heatwaves are forecast to increase in frequency in the coming years – this plan provides important guidance on how to reduce the impact they will have upon health and in doing so, will save lives. 

The plan provides advice and guidance and ensures those organisations involved in providing health and social care services know what actions to take in preparation for, and in the event of, a heatwave. It is an important component of overall emergency planning and will become increasingly relevant in adapting to the impact of climate change. 

Access the plan here http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Aboutus/Features/DH_127213

The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) has estimated that the UK economy is losing £11.1 billion a year, the equivalent to 0.8% of UK GDP, to major disruptions due to lack of Business Continuity Management within UK-based organisations.

Source: The Definitive Handbook of Business Continuity Management, Edited by Andrew Hiles FBCI, Published 2011 by John Wiley and Sons Ltd

Pracius are delighted to announce the opening of our new Glasgow Workplace Recovery site.

All offices have been recently upgraded and offer bright modern open plan office accommodation. Internally the available suites benefit from perimeter trunking, a mixture of panel and upper lighting with male and female toilet facilities. All suites have secure door entry systems.

The site has excellent access to and from the M8 motorway as well as being in close proximity to rail and bus networks. Glasgow Central railway station is close by and there are a number of bus routes which provide direct access in and out of the city centre.

Contact us for more details on 0845 094 2911