Firms urged to prepare for crisis

A new survey by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) has found that fewer than half of firms in the private sector are prepared to deal with unexpected problems such as extreme weather or cyber attacks, putting businesses at risk due to their lack of organisation.

Nearly two-thirds of the over 1,000 managers questioned said their organisation is increasingly at risk from cyber attacks.

A third of firms said they had lost confidential information in the past 12 months due to some sort of attack.

The CMI said firms must prepare themselves to deal with a crisis.

Ruth Spellman, chief executive of CMI, said: “Every time an unexpected event interrupts or halts the operations of a business, charity or public sector body in this country, UK plc suffers – yet with good management, this could be avoided.

“With so many organisations now relying on online networks and systems to function, cyber security breaches have joined extreme weather, contagious illness and transport disruptions as one of the top risks to businesses performance.

“Managers need to ensure that they have proactive plans in place to deal with the potential threats that could impact their business.”