Designed for use across industries, this type of critical incident (CI) management support improves how cannabis businesses respond to problems large and small
By Noam Morginstin, CEO of Exigence Ltd.
Critical incidents affect businesses of all sizes and across all industries. The ability to quickly analyze an incident and make determinations based on its severity is essential for businesses to operate as effectively as possible.
A critical incident platform like the one my company Exigence designed is already assisting companies across the globe. Here’s a closer look at how CI management works, and how our partnership with United CMC will help ease some of the distress facing cannabis businesses throughout the sector.
What Defines a Critical Incident?
A critical incident (CI) can vary widely depending on the business. In retail, it can be something as simple as a secured door not opening due to a technology failure or something far more exceptional, like a robbery, an employee’s on-the-job injury or a dangerous security breach. Large software companies can experience CIs across monitoring systems or if customers cannot access their products as normal.
Whatever the situation, it requires a quick response to keep the problems from growing and possibly becoming detrimental to the company’s livelihood.
Scalable Critical Incident Response
Depending on the severity of the incident, our platform can accommodate anywhere from one person in the virtual Situation Room, to a couple hundred. The incident response can be scaled to best address the situation in a manner that improves efficiency and management.
On the grander scale, internal and external teams can be rapidly assembled to combat critical incidents. For example, a large IT issue might require a tech team, a support team, management and security to be involved. If the incident is smaller, the person in command—the Incident Commander—can either address the situation immediately or call upon a particular colleague or colleagues who can best respond. The Incident Commander has a lot of control; they can push updates, provide essential guiding documents and assemble the necessary personnel.
It is optimal if there is a single Incident Commander, but some situations call for a team effort, and the platform can support both use cases.
If it is a customer-facing issue, the Incident Commander can rapidly call upon the communication experts at the company to release a statement and apprise the media. The platform facilitates getting the right people on board, gathering the important information and communicating well. Additionally, if the situation impacts more than one business or organization, all involved parties can be quickly integrated into the response procedure.
Incident Management System Drills
As with any response system, preparation and drills are necessary to be best prepared for the unexpected. Our CI management system is designed to create tabletop drills for incident response for any type of problem that might affect the business in question. It is also possible to build playbooks and response plans for employees to study and rehearse.
Parameters and conditions can be implemented to alter the types of incident response to be practiced. The drill capability of the platform improves human behavior and decision making when critical situations actually occur. The right people can be identified, they can be onboarded into the Situation Room and they know what is expected of them.
Improving Business Continuity During Critical Incidents
Critical incidents are things that can happen on any timeline: daily, weekly, monthly or once in the lifetime of a company. With a developed critical incident management platform and operational strategy, businesses are best prepared for whatever the situation might be. And that means that their continuity is best maintained, their customers do not leave for a competing company, and above all, safety, profitability and trust are ensured.
Looking for support in compliance monitoring and risk management? A partnership with United CMC can go a long way towards saving time, saving money and getting the best results. Reach out to United CMC today.