Page 14 - Cyber Warnings

The Need For Centralized Critical Event Management

Imad Mouline, Chief Technology Officer, Everbridge

Global threats have increased in complexity and unpredictability. The critical events we face
today are more frequent and unfortunately, costlier and potentially life threatening, creating a
challenge for outdated emergency and IT incident communication systems and processes.
From sophisticated cyber attacks to all-too-frequent incidents involving workplace violence or
terrorist attacks, security managers’ traditional perception of global security has undergone a
necessary change.
The problem? Many large organizations maintain multiple, separate Emergency, Security, IT
and Supply Chain Command Centers which not only each require 24x7 availability, but utilize
siloed tools and processes, making it difficult to create a unified view of the threat assessment
and resolution process. In this scenario, individual departments do their own assessment of
threats, and often times come to different conclusions of their severity, causing break downs in
communications, poor visibility and an increase in the cost of disruption. Without a unified view,
an organization’s response to threats can be delayed and incorrect, leaving its employees,
facilities, travelers, systems and other critical assets vulnerable.

Another issue with maintaining separate command centers is that today’s security managers
need more than an employee’s static office or home address. Security managers need visibility
into all mobile, remote and traveling employees’ locations at all times, especially resolvers who
can triage incidents, should a critical event occur. With 72% of workers projected to be mobile
by 2020 and spending significant time away from a traditional office facility, locating workers,
sharing critical information and directives and communicating with decision makers and
response teams becomes an even more complicated task.

Therefore, it’s important for today’s organizations to combine communication systems, incident
management systems and threat visualization tools into one centralized critical event
management process. When an organization integrates physical and digital tools, they achieve
an end-to-end view integrating threats, operational impact and response status information on a
“single pane of glass.” This unified event management view provides the ability to better assess
what is happening at a given moment across offices, campuses, supply routes, systems and
even near traveling employees. This single platform combines employee safety capabilities with
threat assessment and visualization capabilities, allowing the organization to effectively manage
the full array of intelligence, and therefore assess, locate, automate, communicate, and manage
today’s complex threats that impact security, safety, IT, supply chain and business operations.

In addition, a centralized critical event management process and system allows for dynamic
location tracking and alerting of impacted personnel, response team members and key
stakeholders such as the Board of Directors, should an emergency occur. Whether in the air, in
the field, or at the office, organizations can find their employees by integrating their system with

14 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – July 2017 Edition
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