The Rapid Response Institute

Tag: Cybersecurity

  • 100

    100

    This edition marks the 100th post in our Critical Mass Blog series.  We have sought to provide thoughtful, unbiased insight into the contemporary business and organizational challenges we all face.  Since our first blog post on November 27, 2017 our world has turned over in ways none expected.  Likely, this trend will continue.

    This series continues a tradition of newsletters, opinion pieces and other on line punditry first begun in 1998 with our New Millennium News.  A bi-monthly email with a subscription base of approximately 7,000 readers.  A huge number at that time.  We estimate that hundreds of thousands or more have benefited from this knowledge transfer.

    Coincidentally, we reach this milestone as we begin the new year–a time of renewal.  We will continue to address critical issues individuals, businesses, agencies and others face as we all navigate an increasingly perilous path.  This series has addressed Human Resource issues including Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Teams , the arrival of Smart Technology, International Business, Covid-19, Supply Chain Management, Operational Excellence, Cultural Transformation (including Safety Culture) Sales, Risk Mitigation and of course Leadership.  Today’s organizations must be very good at all of these disciplines!

    Available Tools

    The mission of the Rapid Response Institute (RRI) is to enable our clients with the ability to posture themselves in their market segments so that they can thrive in volatile markets and capitalize on uncertainty, not suffer because of them.  This is especially important for those economic actors in Critical Infrastructure sectors.

    In support of this mission the firm has developed a suite of Intellectual Property (IP) which includes Know How, practical roadmap Books and guidelines as well as Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions among others.  Many readers know that once a process has been standardized with minimal configuration required, the data is the ultimate driver.  This is the heart of most Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions.

    With advances in technology, RRI has taken these once multi-million dollar solutions to a price point as well as Use Case where all organizations can utilize this capability.  Moreover, our advancements in work flow such as epitomized in our Cross Cultural Serious Games, Economic Value Proposition Matrix, and Smart OpEx (Operations Management System) and Risk Simulation Modeling add immediate and significant value to the challenges faced as articulated above.  Other Free Tools are available as well.

    Pulling It All Together

    The method to our madness is–Operations!!  As some are fond of saying with derision, “It’s All About the Benjamins.”  Well, it actually is.  If ‘for-profit’ firms are not profitable, they fail.  No amount of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) will save them if they cannot deliver to paying customers.

    Everything RRI does helps organizations to deliver stakeholder value, compliant with ESG standards.  That is our Bottom Line and we are also pleased that Dr. Shemwell, Managing Director has been an independent advocate for responsible corporate success since 2004.

    FYI, major losses and legal actions do not enhance stakeholder value.  Neither for employees, local communities or equity holders.  Everyone loses when in terrible scenarios such as Deepwater Horizon, internal bias corporate hubris, poor high reliability processes/human factor shortcomings or lack of actual DEI.

    This journey continues.  Stay tuned for the next 100 editions where will continue to provide our thoughts on relevant matters.  Thank you very much for your readership and support.

    How is Your Organization Positioned for the Next Four Years?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game

    We presented, Should Cross Cultural Serious Games Be Included in Your Diversity Program: Best Practices and Lessons Learned at the Online Conference, New Diversity Summit 2020 the week of September 14, 2020.  Check Out this timely event and contact the organizer for access to the presentations!!

    For more on DEI Standards, see the newly released ISO-30415.

    You can contact this author as well.

  • Welcome to the 70s—Again!

    Welcome to the 70s—Again!

    This Baby Boomer graduated from college in 1970.  Just in time for Saturday Night Fever and Grease, Avocado colored refrigerators and Harvest Gold dinnerware.  Plus, the best friend a then bachelor ever had–the microwave oven!

    Not to forget the Gasoline Lines and Hyper Inflation, Vietnam, Peace/Race Protests/Riots, a Major Recession, Stagflation and other wonderful (not) youthful memories–ugly political and economic time not wished on future generations.  Adjusted for inflation a gallon of gasoline was $0.36 in 1970.  By 1980 it was $1.19–greater than a 330% increase.

    Seems like as Yoga Berra once said, “It’s like déjà vu all over again,” or ‘Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”  Yet here we are again, or so it seems.

    While I am not dusting off my leisure suit or growing what’s left of my hair, if as this boomer believes we are beginning to relive the 1970s economy, so what should we do?  How should we respond to this new, yet old situation?

    Most financial planners, corporate executives, academics, regulators and others were either not old enough or even alive when the economic and political shocks of the 1970s engulfed the globe.  Without this experienced knowledge, many maybe ill equipped to deal with the current  tsunami that is building.  Perhaps a critical concern for everyone’s 401K retirement investments?

    Hyper inflation is a cancer.  It destroys economies and even societies, not to mention families and individuals in its wake.  Real estate may be a winner if anyone can afford to purchase your house.  However, equities struggle and cash is toast.  From 1970 to 1980 the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced a scant 5 percent.

    How does this compare with an over 300% increase in the gasoline we all needed for our automobiles?  Short answer, it does not and individual households went backward during that period.

    So What Do We Do Now?

    Flight to quality.  But what represents quality?  Big Tech comes to mind but what is the underlying value proposition of a web based database?  The outage of a major player blamed on a network issue and a number of (internal) cascading issues–the plague of many industrial incidents including Deepwater Horizon questions that proposition.

    Are companies this vulnerable in our age of digitalization, or was this a sign of something else?  As with many IT oriented decisions, “It depends.”  The fact that one of the world’s largest, high profile web based companies suffered a significant outage, not as a result of a cyber attack but apparently its own technical incompetency is not reassuring in a Cloud based global economy.

    The something else–we have discussed the need for High Reliability for complex sectors including the 16 sectors the US Homeland Security deems as Critical Infrastructure.  Social media is not on that list, but manufacturing is.  In our forthcoming (2022) book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability,” we address risk mitigation strategies that can inoculate organizations from such catastrophic IT failures.

    Heavy industries such as oil and gas are routinely criticized when a catastrophic incident occurs.  These need no longer happen and we have put forth strategies routinely for more than a decade including in our 2014 book, Implementing a Culture of Safety: A Roadmap to Performance-Based Compliance.

    As we move into the ‘Smart’ era, it will be incumbent on organizations to take steps to mitigate what happened to a web based chat room provider.  The exogenous risk of critical infrastructure failing is significant, per the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack and the systemic damage done to the US east coast.

    The 1970s were marked by turmoil and follow on from the late 1960s.  Richard Nixon took the country off the Gold Standard opening up significant economic and individual distress.  We appear to be on the cusp of Yogi’s cautionary tale.  It does not have to be, but appears likely.  Is the US dollar no longer the world’s reserve currency in a era of bitcoin?  If so, what are the ramifications?

    Finally, as the son of parents from the Greatest Generation, I admit I never faced the challenges they endured.  During my 20s, the period was an inconvenience, yet one I do not care to relive in my 70s.  The graphic was taken from the Internet without citation.  The author is unknown but we acknowledge his/her sense of humor.  AND I can relate to it!

    The Fed has indicated Inflation (Stagflation?) is here to stay.  To this individual, this is a scary statement even though it posited as essentially ‘no big deal.’  We will see in a year if it was as big a deal as it was in the 1970s.

    How will You Manage in this Environment?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    Interested in Cross Cultural Engagement or DEI, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game

    We presented, Should Cross Cultural Serious Games Be Included in Your Diversity Program: Best Practices and Lessons Learned at the Online Conference, New Diversity Summit 2020 the week of September 14, 2020.

    For more information on these and others subjects covered in the Critical Mass series contact this author.

  • ESG Implementation–Strong v Weak Revisited

    ESG Implementation–Strong v Weak Revisited

    “A healthy corporation acts on the interests of its stakeholders and customers”

    — Ari Melber, Journalist

    Currently, organizations are being implored to implement Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) driven business models.   Proponents even suggest that investment in organizations that do not have this imprimatur should be avoided or even divested.

    However, one wonders what has changed?  Successful firms, private and public have long understood that they must add value to their constituencies.  One example, a few decades ago an energy services provider used its high volume oilfield pumps to help a small town in Kansas where it had a district office drain flood waters.  Why would they do this?  Perhaps because employees lived in this community or perhaps it was just the right thing to do.

    Flash forward and we find organizational largess still in place.  During the recent Texas freeze, a local furniture retailer opened its doors to dispossessed individuals and families.  The owner has a long record of supporting the community and his responses to local disasters is legendary.

    After the Deepwater Horizon incident in April 2010, our firm started to look at Asset Integrity issues in oilfield operations.  Our discoveries transcended several Critical Infrastructure segments.  The recent failure of the Colonial Pipeline is a manifestation of issues uncovered yet not resolved more than a decade ago!

    Focus on Operations

    In 2011, we posited that organizational governance was not just a financial issue at the ‘C’ level.  Rather its true focus should be at the revenue generating asset level.  This led to our 2011 groundbreaking monograph, Asset/Equipment Integrity Governance: Operations–Enterprise Alignment.  Therein, we posited a new governance model that incorporated the ESG components widely discussed today.

    Moreover, in 2014 our book, IMPLEMENTING A CULTURE of SAFETY: A ROADMAP FOR PERFORMANCE BASED COMPLIANCE identified the requirement for organizations in the Critical Infrastructure space to change governance models to one of Strong Bond.

    Following the release of our AIG model, we put forth a Strong v Weak governance model to manage High Reliability Organizations (HRO) necessary for firms in Critical Infrastructure sectors.  Strong Bond is appropriate for organizations in Critical Infrastructure segments, while Weak Bonds may be better for retail.

    One suspects that ESG is another tick in the box.  If ten years (or earlier) from now another critical system fails, it will not be because HRM processes were not followed or ESG verbiage was in the annual report Letter to Shareholders; it will be because nothing really changed.  As of this writing the US Federal government is advising organizations in Critical Infrastructure sectors to more aggressively address cybersecurity risks.

    Why is this? Do Boards and CEOs need politicians and bureaucrats to tell them about the details of running a business?  If they do, investors may want to revisit their portfolios.

    One suspects that the ESG fad will fade. There will always be a new management mantra that consultants will put forth.  Well run organizations will remain well run.  Others not so much.

    Governance models come and go.  Regardless, how will you assure your organization is well run?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game

    We presented, Should Cross Cultural Serious Games Be Included in Your Diversity Program: Best Practices and Lessons Learned at the Online Conference, New Diversity Summit 2020 the week of September 14, 2020.  Check Out this timely event and contact the organizer for access to the presentations!!

    You can contact this author as well.

  • Is Your Digitalized Organization Cybersecure?

    Is Your Digitalized Organization Cybersecure?

    Here is How to Find Out!

    It seems that everyday a new major cyber breach is announced.  The Rapid Response Institute and its Principals have addressed this issue many times through a variety of venues and publications.

    We recently conducted a workshop, “Implementing Digitalization: A Game Changing Transformation of the E&P Sector.”  The Cybersecurity of this sector transformation is critical to its success.

    Moreover, since “this is the way we run our business,” Cybersecurity is now a Board of Directors issue and an integral part of its fiduciary responsibility.

    As part of our continuing effort to add value to Operational Excellence and Risk Mitigation processes, it our pleasure to feature this recent Public Television interview.

    We encourage you to watch this 30 minutes discussion with one of the world’s leading Thought Leaders in the Management of Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Sectors such as oil & gas, electric power generation & distribution, medicine and others as identified by the United States Department of Homeland Security.

    Patriot Act of 2001 defined critical infrastructure as those “systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters.”

    We believe you and your organization will find watching this video time well spent.  Also, should you wish to talk further with her please contact us and we will arrange this.

    Stay Cyber Safe!