Failures in crisis management can have broad repercussions, such as loss of life, assets, revenue, image or brand. Thorough planning for these events, however, involves many avenues and can stretch the parameters of risk management.

Proactive planning is a critical part of dealing with a crisis. The adage, “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail” takes on new importance during a crisis such as Hurricane Katrina, as well as the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the recent barrage of large earthquakes, the deadly West Virginia mining blast and most recently British Petroleum's oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico.

Catastrophes can disrupt businesses directly through the loss of an asset such as a data center, or indirectly through the loss of a key distributor or service such as water, telecommunication or power.