Media Advisory
Tuesday 10 March 2009

1000 Auckland organisations will benchmark their resilience

This month, 1000 organisations in the Auckland region will receive an invite to participate in an exciting new research programme to benchmark how resilient they are to survive and even thrive in times of crisis. 

The current global financial crisis is an example of when an organisation needs to be resilient to survive, but the same resilience will see organisations recover from technological risks such as loss of power or data corruption, public health issues like pandemic influenza or a natural hazard event like a volcanic eruption or severe weather.  

Organisations participating in the research will be able to see how resilient their organisation is compared with others of a similar size and sector, and will be given tailored advice on how to leverage their resilience strengths during crisis and ways to address their areas of greatest weakness. 

 
Background information:

·         Research is part of the Resilient Organisations research programme, involving researchers from both the University of Canterbury and University of Auckland.  More information can be found at: www.resorgs.org.nz.

·         Project is co-funded by the Foundation of Research Science and Technology and the Auckland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group.

·         The research uses a web-based survey completed by a cross section of staff to measure each organisation’s resilience. 

·         Each organisation that participates will get a report showing their results and how they compare against other organisations.  They will also be provided with an individual action plan for what they should do to improve their organisation’s resilience.   All results are completely confidential.

·         Participation in the research is free for organisations in the Auckland region.

·         If organisations aren’t randomly selected to participate, they can nominate themselves on the research website:  www.resorgs.org.nz/benchmark

Interesting facts:

·         In a recent survey, 75% of New Zealand businesses surveyed did not have any business continuity plans in place for managing something as common as a power outage.

·         Two thirds of businesses would have to close their doors within the hour following a power outage, with closures costing between $1,000 and $10,000 an hour for nearly half of all businesses - the most significant contributor to losses being lost employee productivity.

ENDS

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