Vol. 732 – Hungry Data Centers: Draining Water & Power — Creating Risk!

June 4, 2026

The physical infrastructure behind digital services is becoming a critical business risk. In their YouTube channel Impact Analysis, Jerome Ryan and Mike Janko explore a rapidly emerging risk tied to the growth of AI — data center water and energy consumption.

While most attention focuses on the electricity demands, another critical and often overlooked resource is now under pressure, water. Modern data centers require massive cooling systems to manage heat generated by high performance computing.

This demand is increasing at an unprecedented pace. In this episode, Mike & Jerome break down the systemic risks emerging at the intersection of digital infrastructure, energy systems, and water resources.

Vol. 731 – Company Responders – A Coordinated Response to Emergencies

May 21, 2026

How does your company respond to an internal emergency? Who responds to the incident? What is the role of the team or individuals? How do different groups or departments organize the effort? In many companies, the response to an emergency involves two or more departments, yet there are rarely written plans or processes to coordinate the response. Regina Phelps builds the case for developing the “Company Responder Team” concept in your organization.

Regina, a frequent speaker at international continuity conferences, is known for her approachable and entertaining speaking style and ability to break complex topics into easily digestible and understandable nuggets. She has designed more than 3,700 exercises in her career. Don’t miss her advice!

Vol. 730 – Reimagining Corporate Business Continuity in the Middle East Conflict

May 7, 2026

As publisher, I am very pleased to share with our Continuity eGUIDE readers an insightful and timely perspective from Maitreya Buddha Samantaray, Vice President of Strategic Risk Consulting at Marsh Risk. Maitreya is based in Gurgaon, Haryana, India and offers a unique, international viewpoint. In this compelling article, Maitreya examines how the conflict involving Iran and the disruption of critical global trade and energy routes are reshaping the future of business continuity planning worldwide.

Drawing upon more than 18 years of experience in geopolitical risk, crisis management, and operational resilience, he explores why traditional continuity strategies are no longer sufficient in an era of systemic disruption, cyber threats, supply chain instability, and prolonged geopolitical uncertainty. His analysis offers practical insight into how organizations can strengthen resilience, protect operations, and adapt leadership structures during periods of sustained instability.

Vol 729 – 10 Blind Spots in Your Remote Team’s Business Continuity Plan

April 16, 2026

Zac Amos examines common blind spots in a remote team’s BC plan. In the past, team members could learn from the same plan, work together in the event of an issue, and see informative posters or signs on the walls. Today, there is no one-size-fits-all plan for remote teams. A plan that works for one employee may be irrelevant to another in a different city, country or even continent. Identifying these gaps early can ensure remote teams stay productive during disruptions and know what to do in the event of a serious issue.

Vol 728 – Fourth-Party Risk: The Blind Spot Most Programs Never See Coming

April 3, 2026

Your critical vendor passed every assessment. Strong financials. Clean audit. Solid SLA. What you didn’t know — couldn’t know, with a standard assessment — is that they rely on a single cloud provider for their core infrastructure. The same cloud provider that just experienced a 14-hour regional outage.

That’s fourth-party risk. And it’s the blind spot that standard vendor risk programs weren’t built to see. Ernie Bryan, resilience leader with Disney Experiences, explains why fourth-party risk is accelerating and how to build it into your program.

Vol 727 – Leadership in Times of Crisis: 7 Skills to Manage the Crisis

March 19, 2026

Successful crisis management doesn’t just happen by accident. Being ready to meet the moment requires two things from all of us:

1. Those managing a crisis must always be in a constant state of readiness, as close to instantaneous as possible. Think in terms of “instant-on.”
2. Have a wide range of contingencies at your disposal so you are prepared for many possibilities.

Author and crisis management expert Regina Phelps outlines seven essential skills required to manage a crisis.

Vol 726 – The Supply Chain Threat You May Not Have Seen Coming

March 5, 2026

A key challenge for supply chain organizations is to anticipate, prepare for, and mitigate risks to a company’s operations and business continuity. Many organizations focus their attention on “traditional” disruptions like supplier failures, material and inventory shortages, and natural and human-caused disasters. Inadequate electric power may not be high on their priority list—if it is included at all—because this ubiquitous resource is often taken for granted. Such complacency could prove to be a costly mistake.

MIT professor Yossi Sheffi warns that power-hungry data centers and other risks threaten supply chains’ access to reliable electric energy.

Vol 725 – If I Had One Day to Set Up Crisis Management, This Is How I’d Spend It

February 19, 2026

Standards, frameworks, and templates provide a shared language for crisis management. They align expectations and create consistency across organizations. The risk is not in using them, but in optimizing the document instead of the work that should come first.

A crisis plan only becomes valuable once professionals have aligned on how they think, decide and act under pressure. The crisis plan must capture that thinking and should never replace it.

Patrick Lechner lays a foundation for managing those events that are often unclear and evolving.

Vol 724 – Want A Resilient Future? Take A Moment To Learn From The Past

February 5, 2026

I have known and worked with Regina Phelps for more than 35 years. Not only is she a treasured friend, she is a highly respected colleague. Her blogs have been consistent reader favorites. Many of you already know Regina — as an industry rockstar whose insights are meaty and practical with clear-cut takeaways.

Regina loves digging into case studies and histories of past disasters. She believes there are many things we can learn from the past – we just need to pay attention and then act to change our plans and/or our behavior.

Vol 723 – Business Continuity Theater: A Six-part Series

January 23, 2026

There is no shortage of guidance on how to “do” Business Continuity well. Between ISO 22301, the BCI Good Practice Guidelines, and decades of collective experience, we know what good looks like. Leadership accountability is clear. Strategic alignment is expected. Exercising and validation are built into the frameworks. And yet, the same pattern keeps repeating.

This series by resilience professional Laura Jury starts with a simple observation: the gap in BC has never been technical — it is human. Her series, Business Continuity Theater explores why well-intentioned organizations keep reproducing the same weaknesses, even when they “know better”.

Vol 722 – When Cell Networks Fail, This Hidden Feature Can Keep You Connected

December 4, 2025

In an always-connected world, our phones have become our personal command centers. During disasters, major events, or infrastructure failures, the one tool we count on most, our cellular connection can suddenly become unreliable or unavailable. However, there is a lifeline you are not likely using.

Seasoned communications veteran, Jim Gledhill, tells us that there is a simple, no-cost feature built into every modern smartphone that dramatically increases your ability to stay reachable: Wi-Fi Calling. Most people don’t use it, few understand it, and almost no one realizes how powerful it can be in a crisis.

Vol 721 – How Digital Twins Reduce Risks of Supply Chain Disruptions

November 20, 2025

Professionals in business continuity, cybersecurity and crisis management face the challenge of maintaining smooth supply chain operations amid constant disruptions, from extreme weather to cyber incidents and geopolitical events. A “digital twin” — a real-time virtual replica of a physical system — provides a clear way to see operations, test scenarios and anticipate potential problems before they occur.

By applying digital twins, organizations can enhance their resilience, mitigate risks and respond more effectively to unexpected challenges. Zac Amos shares five practical techniques for implementing supply-chain digital twins to achieve these goals.