What is your role since leaving corporate life?
Business continuity consultant and the founder of Continuity Strength, a tech solution that provides online business contingency plans for small to medium businesses.
Area of expertise
Business continuity planning
How long have you been doing this?
I have been consulting for close to 2 decades - nearly 5 years as helm of my own practice
What is your company name?
What is your LinkedIn profile URL?
Please can you provide some examples of recent projects that you’ve worked on?
Digitized business continuity planning into a turnkey solution - Continuity Strength - used both by small to medium businesses, and advisors who work with small to medium businesses.
What is your unique selling point? What makes your business approach unique?
Business continuity planning provides a first line of risk management defence for businesses.
Continuity Strength uses a digital approach to remove barriers to preventative risk management. This saves smaller businesses money, time and minimises the impact of costly and unplanned interruptions to their business operations.
We need to talk about…? What is, or what should be, hot on the industry’s lips in your view? A number of factors are driving trends that are impacting the industry.
With the increase in type, frequency and intensity of disruptions, many insurance players have been unable to keep up with the resulting demand and claims burden. There has been renewed focus on prevention.
Factors critical to the success of a preventative approach include increasing policyholder awareness, building their resilience, and ultimately, making insurance utilisation the last line of defence.
Policyholders are looking for more value from their risk professionals. They are looking for proactive, personalised guidance in an increasingly VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) business environment.
Players in the industry are increasingly utilising risk management solutions - homegrown or via partnerships - to quickly strike a winning balance.
Do you have any words of wisdom for us or a short phrase that sums up your ethos?
Insurance should be the last - not the first or only - line of defense in any comprehensive risk management program.
Why are you such an asset to the industry & the network
Comprehensive risk management requires the presence and participation of a number of players in the ecosystem. Business continuity planning complements and amplifies the efforts and expertise of others in the industry, from carriers to brokers, agents to advisors. Like members of an orchestra, we all play a role in improving the overall risk profile of policyholders.
Why does your area of expertise need to be spotlighted?
Continuity plans safeguard business operations and growth: 87% reduced disruptions; 86% improved resilience; 82% faster recovery (Source: CMI report 2013)
The number one hurdle for businesses is not being able to bounce back. During the pandemic there was a lack of continuity plans.
The second hurdle was insufficient insurance. (Source: Bill and Melinda Gates & Walker’s Legacy Foundation study, 2021)
Any stats/results to show off your proud moments?
Continuity Strength being named a finalist in the Business Continuity Institute’s Americas awards - the only innovation addressing the needs of small businesses that year!
Continuity Strength being accepted into Hannover Re’s Equarium marketplace as a risk management solution for small businesses and advisors to small businesses (eg brokers).
Most importantly what are 2 or 3 tips or give-aways that you can give to 1 or more of the following types of businesses
Insurance businesses - established
Established insurance businesses are looking for ways to increase awareness, prevention and resilience to improve policyholders’ overall risk profile and reduce insurance utilisation.
With their current operating model, staffing and other constraints present hurdles to mounting a comprehensive, personalised response for policyholders.
Many are innovating internally or entering into partnerships to quickly provide risk management solutions that drive down insurance costs for the long term. Scalable, digital solutions such as Continuity Strength - combining an actionable continuity plan with educational awareness - are worth considering as an option for SMEs directly, or the advisors (eg brokers or agents) who work with SMEs.
Other consultants
Consultants are looking to transition from transaction-based services to becoming true trusted advisors to their clients. This entails championing a comprehensive risk management approach that enables proactive conversations about risk, empowered by the right solutions. Digital risk management solutions like Continuity Strength allow advisors to quickly provide business continuity as a service to clients without increasing bandwidth.
And… Last but not least, how does being a member of The Camelot Network help you/or add value to your business?
As a new member, I’m still discovering the network’s benefits. However, as someone who is not from the insurance industry, the organisation, sense of camaraderie and experts’ openness to collaborate are a definite plus.
Do you have a blog or thought leadership article?
Forbes (2022): How Businesses Mitigate the Risk of Unplanned Events During Uncertain Times
Forbes (2021): For Successful Small Businesses, Resilience Is A Strategy, Not An Option
vCita: Business continuity – helping small businesses become truly resilient
Capital One: The Importance of a Business Continuity Plan for your Small Business
If you’d like to network with our members, register for our next Camelot Connect
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