In today’s fast-paced, interconnected business environment, a crisis can strike at any moment—and spread like wildfire. Without a robust crisis management strategy, the damage can swiftly become all-encompassing, and in some cases irreparable.

Despite this, many companies are still caught off-guard when disaster strikes. They assume they’re prepared to weather the next cyberattack, natural disaster, product recall, or corporate scandal, but they don’t take steps to confirm the accuracy of their assumptions. As a result, they experience greater levels of financial, reputational, and operational damage when a calamity occurs, and their recovery times are often significantly longer than those of companies that had planned for such an event.

At a time when potential crises loom around every corner, it’s no longer realistic to simply strive to avoid them. Instead, the ultimate goal of every business should not only be to mitigate risks, but also to effectively prepare, respond, and recover from crises as swiftly as possible when they do happen. Organizations must also develop processes to effectively apply the lessons learned, and seize the opportunities that arise throughout and following a crisis.

By viewing crisis management as a lifecycle, exploring the elements of a successful simulation program, outlining the necessary steps to mitigate a cyber breach, and breaking down the secrets to a swift and thorough recovery, this blog series aims to reframe the traditional approach to crisis management—and help organizations glean a more holistic understanding of what it actually means to be crisis-ready.