How much damage can a business system outage cause? As is pretty clear these days, they happen often, and can have serious impact. Take, for example, Visa’s payment network outage. On June 1st, 2018, Visa’s payment system in Europe went down for nearly ten hours, halting many personal and bank transactions. The massive, complex nature of the system made it difficult to pinpoint the root cause of the outage, adding hours of downtime and many degrees of frustration for the company’s customers. After performing their root cause analysis, the company identified a “very rare partial failure” of a switch in one of their data centers as the cause of the outage.

Hurricanes, wildfires, and tornadoes each leave distinct impacts on the regions they affect. This leaves one question: What are the most destructive natural disasters (of these types) in history? How much damage does each type of disaster cause, and what contributes to their destructive potential?

If there was one very clear theme to this year’s DRI conference in Las Vegas, it was the importance of having a diverse community in the world of business continuity management (BCM). From the sessions to the talking points in the exhibit hall, it’s clear that the future of BCM depends on having a strong and diverse community of practitioners and leaders. Here’s our top 5 takeaways from DRI 2019.

Responding to major business disruptions are a company-wide effort. Every team gets involved during the response and recovery. But despite how great having help from every angle is, it can be disruptive and throw the cart of the rails quickly. How do you keep a steady course through these difficult crisis management challenges?

Just after lunch one day, you receive this email: “Can you send me the password for our network? I just can’t seem to remember it right now. Thanks.” At first, this seems a bit weird to you. No one in your office asks for passwords over email. But you also remember that some of your colleagues from another office are visiting for the next couple of days, so now this seems somewhat plausible.

In early October 2018, the president signed the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (DRRA) in tandem with the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2018. After extreme wildfire and hurricane seasons in 2017, FEMA and Congress worked hard to reform how US communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. The result of that is this bill.

On December 12th, 2017, user Primpwatcher at phantompilots.com posted a video of their latest drone outing on a message board. When you watch the video, see if you notice what they saw when they watched the flight footage back.

A strong social services program can make a big difference in a community. It’s why some of New Haven’s own residents run the city’s Youth Stat program, a school-based intervention program seeking to reduce justice involvement and improve health and wellness outcomes in students from elementary and postsecondary education.

There’s a lot of paper, email chains, work, and time involved for every facility running EOC Rounds. But it doesn’t need to this strenuous.

In April 2018, Hodges and Friel organized a reunification drill on campus. The drill mimicked what would happen during a real evacuation.

Those who did receive notifications via text weren’t given the total picture, however. The text notification was incomplete.

Last November, GridEx IV kicked off with 6500 participants from 450 different organizations. This exercise saw a large rise in participation over GridEx III

Veoci’s Geoff Baum recently penned an article about Veoci’s move to Vue and Vuetify on Medium. Learn more about this innovation and Veoci’s future.

Responding to a data breach is a high-pressure situation, especially when you consider the EU's newest privacy regulation, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and its requirements.

June 1st marks the official start of hurricane season. Every year, businesses, governments, colleges and universities, hospitals, and other organizations along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast prepare for the inevitable arrival of storms and hurricanes, doing everything possible to minimize their impact. Veoci's first trial was by hurricane.

Previously, we talked with Maria about how she prepared for commencement every year. Now we’re going to jump into her career and how she dedicated it to emergency management.

With over 30 member center locations and billions in assets, Wright-Patt Credit Union (WPCU) has many complex daily operations to oversee. But daily operations don't draw WPCU's total focus. Emergency incidents are rare, but they do happen.

Connecticut’s second largest city, New Haven, is home to one of the oldest universities in the country: Yale University. Yale is an important piece of the city of New Haven, and both the school and the city often work hand-in-hand.

National Wildfire Awareness Month kicks of this week, with May 5th being national Wildfire Community Preparedness Day. It's a great reminder of how important it is to be ready for these incidents, especially with the hot and dry summer weather around the corner.

National Reentry Week, from April 23rd-28th 2018, ended on a strong and hopeful note. During National Reentry Week and National Second Chance Month, we reflect on the people who dedicate their work to ensuring there’s a life after prison.

On April 17th 2017, The City of New Haven Youth Services Department presented Veoci with the 2018 YSB (Youth Services Bureau) Community Partner of the Year at The Great Escape Charity Breakfast.

Among the many solutions that Veoci provides to the General Aviation industry, one of the less heralded but highly important (and interesting!) ones is Lease Management, especially for smaller Part 139 certified airports. And while it may seem like a simple application, Veoci’s usage as a lease management tool is an excellent demonstration of how Veoci can be configured for very specific aviation needs.

DRI 2018 - The Professional’s Conference (hosted by Disaster Recovery Institute International) was a fantastic opportunity for everyone to learn about the transforming landscape of resilience and business continuity.

Six years ago, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was first proposed to the EU. Two years ago, the EU passed the new regulation. And in 3 months, GDPR will take effect. GDPR has a broad scope.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) selected Veoci Software as the Safety Management System (SMS) to the Province's northern remote airports. The MTO has the largest airport network in Canada, owning and operating 29 airports across northern Ontario.

Anyone who travels knows how enriching the experience is. Ibn Battuta, a 14th century Moroccan scholar, learned this quickly. When he set out on hajj in 1325, he probably didn’t plan on staying out for 24 straight years.

Upwards of 105 million people are expected to travel over the end of year holidays this year. Among them will be a majority of the 12,000 students and 4,500 faculty and staff of Yale University.

The National Healthcare Coalition Preparedness Conference of 2017 (NHCPC) finished up just over a week ago. We followed up with Rich Smith, a Senior Solutions Associate at Veoci, who attended the conference for the first time this year.

On November 15th and 16th, GridEx, a biennial event, will be taking place. Representatives from the North American utility industry, as well as various regional and federal agencies, will take part in simulated emergencies to test their response plans.