Understanding the links between compliance and disaster preparation has never been more crucial for global corporations and legal practitioners. Navigating these complex waters, authorities like Laura Fey, Principal at Fey, LLC; Tom Leatherbee, Manager at the Recovery Division of Hagerty Consulting; and Jillian Cusack, AVP and Privacy Officer at American Fidelity, provide valuable insights into the essential elements of this intricate relationship.
Given the mounting complexities surrounding unforeseen events, organizational fortitude is often determined by more than just a thorough disaster plan. Data backups, call trees, and alternative work locations have traditionally been the center of such practices. These measures, crucial as they are, neglect an often-overlooked aspect: compliance.
According to these thought leaders, this tendency to overlook compliance during disaster planning can potentially have dire consequences. During the intensity of urgent crisis management, compliance measures may fall by the wayside. But this, according to the experts collaborating with the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, is a grave mistake.
The path to securing a sound approach lies in striving for a balance that respects the exigency of the immediate threat whilst also protecting the long-term viability of the business in terms of compliance. Armoring corporations against the potential knock-on effects of compliance failure in the face of disaster could safeguard from even more threatening, longer-term crises such as regulatory investigations or lawsuits.
As such, the recommendation for corporate legal practitioners is to effectively integrate compliance considerations into disaster preparedness strategies. This means prioritizing both the immediate and the potential longer-term threats, thereby bolstering both survival and sustainable business continuity.