Terrorist attacks, high profile kidnappings, extortion, political insurgency are some of the growing risks that companies face in overseas operations. They could affect your organization’s workforce, property and contracts and have a significant impact on business operations and shareholder value.
As such they argue for the insurance policy of having a crisis management consulting firm lined up as a partner prior to any such events transpiring. For such situations, last-minute is too late.
They also represent a fundamentally different set of issues than most domestic consultancies can handle. There are many individuals and organizations which may have competence in a smaller range of crises likely to afflict a corporation in a purely domestic setting, but the wider range of international issues are beyond the scope of their experience. The whole problem with crises is that – in general – we don’t see them coming. But, that said, you can prepare in advance, not unlike how one prepares for a hurricane or an earthquake. It’s insurance: you hope you don’t need it, but you want it there if you do.
Crisis Management Consulting: From Global to Local
A truly international security expert needs to bring to the table a unique set of skills to crisis management consulting, but even before that, the foremost qualification is a breadth of experience. A crisis which could adversely affect your company is no time for on-the-job training! That experience is means swift and sure response to a client’s needs, and how rapidly and effectively you react in a crisis is critical. Time is of the essence, events can pile up rapidly, and trouble cascade unpredictably. Unless you have a partner with experience in such situations, you won’t necessarily be able take the optimal steps in response. It can make the difference between recovering quickly and having the crisis become an ongoing burden. This is where long experience in crisis management consulting proves an invaluable asset.
Crisis Management is Just a Piece of the Puzzle
This is not to say that IMG cannot also provide crisis management consulting on domestic issues, such as workplace violence, or even a simple security audit. Our experience spans both worlds. And clearly it will benefit a corporation to have a single partner for all of their crisis management consulting as then there is no duplication of effort.
To learn more about how crisis management consulting can aid your organization in both a local and global capacity, give us a call and have one of our friendly staff explain more about the benefits. Our outside perspective will help you ‘see’ things that you might ‘miss,’ even if they haven’t really happened and you really hope that they don’t.