The Everbridge Risk Intelligence Monitoring Center (RIMC) has designated the conflict between India and Pakistan a ‘special event’. This ensures complete and comprehensive coverage of the developing situation from a risk intelligence perspective.
The Everbridge RIMC analysts will have an enhanced focus on the conflict and will produce all information available in real time for customers – including updates on damage to infrastructure, travel implications and military operations. Our tactical resolution team has already produced multiple layers/KMLs detailing the planned blackouts surrounding Indian infrastructure, troop movements and drone missile strike locations.
Everbridge Response and Service Continuity Update – Guidance for Customers with Personnel in India
Source: Everbridge RIMC (May 9, 2025)
If your organization has personnel in or traveling to India or the surrounding area, we want to assure you that Everbridge is actively monitoring the situation as tensions escalate in the India-Pakistan region. At this time, there is no impact to Everbridge services, but we are taking proactive steps to protect staff, ensure operational continuity, and support customers who may be affected.
As part of our crisis response protocols, Everbridge has:
- Activated our Crisis Management Team, which is meeting regularly
- Reviewed support coverage and delivery infrastructure
- Verified that our systems are resilient and not dependent on any single region
We also want to take this opportunity to reinforce the importance of multi-modal communication during volatile events. In certain scenarios – such as regional conflicts or government-imposed restrictions – SMS or voice services may be delayed or disrupted. Everbridge supports a variety of delivery channels including email, app push notifications, desktop alerts, and phone calls, allowing for greater reach and redundancy when speed and reliability are critical.
We will continue to monitor developments closely. Should there be any changes to service availability or delivery to affected areas, you will be notified immediately as an Everbridge customer.
If you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact your Everbridge account representative.
Preparedness is the cornerstone of effective emergency management and business continuity planning. Tabletop exercises are a critical tool in developing, testing, and refining emergency response strategies. These exercises simulate real-world scenarios in a low-pressure, discussion-based setting, providing valuable insights into team readiness and plan effectiveness.
Tabletop exercises provide organizations with a controlled environment to identify gaps in their strategies, clarify roles and responsibilities, and refine communication protocols. By envisioning and rehearsing responses to worst-case scenarios, participants gain a deeper understanding of potential challenges and the steps needed to mitigate risks. The lessons learned can then be translated into actionable improvements, significantly increasing resilience against real-world emergencies.
Whether you’re an emergency manager, business continuity planner, or safety leader, this guide will equip you with the tools you need to conduct effective tabletop exercises. From understanding their importance to planning, executing, and evaluating these exercises, we’ll walk you through every step to ensure your organization is ready for the challenges that come its way.
What is a tabletop exercise?
Tabletop exercises are structured, scenario-driven discussions designed to test and evaluate the effectiveness of an organization’s emergency response plans. They bring together relevant stakeholders to simulate a real-life event and walk through the necessary steps to handle it.
Purpose of tabletop exercises
The primary objective of these exercises is to:
- Assess the efficiency of response plans.
- Test team coordination and communication.
- Identify gaps or weaknesses in the organization’s emergency strategy.
Unlike full-scale drills or live-action simulations, tabletop exercises are typically conducted in a conference room setting, making them cost-effective and easier to organize. They focus on discussion and decision-making rather than physical action.
Real-life application
Consider a scenario where a natural disaster like a hurricane is imminent. During a tabletop exercise, key stakeholders might simulate communications, evacuations, and operational adjustments to determine whether their current plans are actionable and robust enough to handle the crisis.
A recent example of a tabletop exercise can be seen in the U.S. Navy’s collaboration with Caribbean partners to address climate-related challenges. This exercise, as reported by the U.S. Department of Defense, brought together government officials, military representatives, and climate experts to simulate responses to climate-driven disasters in the region. The scenario-based discussions focused on improving coordination, sharing resources, and developing operational strategies to mitigate the impacts of severe weather events, rising sea levels, and humanitarian crises.
Key benefits of tabletop exercises
Tabletop exercises provide several critical benefits for organizations across industries, including:
Opportunity for improvement
Tabletop exercises offer a safe space to uncover inefficiencies and mistakes before they occur in real-world emergencies. These insights are invaluable in refining response strategies and ensuring teams can act effectively during an incident.
Resource allocation
Assessing resource allocation through tabletop exercises ensures that organizations understand how best to utilize their available assets during a crisis. Identify resource gaps, redundancies, or misallocations that might impede an effective response.
Enhanced collaboration
By bringing together cross-functional teams, tabletop exercises foster collaboration and understanding. Participants gain insight into how different departments contribute to emergency response, how to improve communication (including with AI), and coordination during real events. It also allows teams to develop the skills and knowledge needed to respond effectively to critical events.
Planning a tabletop exercise
Effective tabletop exercises begin with meticulous planning. Here is a step-by-step guide to designing an impactful session:
1. Define the scope and objectives
Identify the primary objectives of the exercise. Is the goal to evaluate communication protocols, test decision-making, or assess evacuation procedures? Clearly defining the scope ensures all participants remain focused and on track.
For example, objective 1: Testing the ability to quickly communicate standardized messages through incident and message templates.
2. Identify key participants
Bring together relevant stakeholders based on the scenario. This may include emergency services, business continuity teams, executives, safety officers, and external partners such as utility companies or community officials. Every tabletop exercise should have a facilitator, participants, evaluators, and a scribe.
Effective tabletop facilitators should possess a solid understanding of the Critical Event Management platform, enabling them to discern when to intervene and when to let the flow of information proceed naturally. A skilled facilitator should:
- Guide the discussion without dominating it.
- Address participants by name or title (using name cards can be helpful).
- Keep the process focused, on track, and on schedule.
- Encourage group members to engage directly with each other when discussions are exercise-focused, while gently redirecting side conversations back to the task at hand.
- Provide clear and concise instructions.
- Offer clarification and structure as needed.
- Maintain a neutral and fair stance throughout.
- Allow room for productive conflict while knowing when to step in to maintain balance.
A great facilitator strikes the perfect balance between guiding the process and allowing participants to engage organically.
3. Develop a realistic scenario
Create a scenario tailored to your organization’s specific needs and risks. Scenarios should be plausible and relevant, such as a cybersecurity breach, natural disaster, active assailant, or supply chain disruption. The more realistic the scenario, the more effective the exercise.
4. Develop injectables
Crisis events are dynamic and fluid; injections of new or additional information shared with some or all of the players during the exercise help to keep things realistic. They should add complexity and potentially more stress to the process, but not be so farfetched as to completely redirect the group to a whole new series of problems.
Not all injections need to be escalations in the severity of the scenario; some injections may reflect success or a reduction in the seriousness of the event to test that the group can recognize this and adjust tempo or resource allocation accordingly.
5. Create discussion questions
Draft open-ended questions to guide the discussion. For example:
- What are the immediate actions your team would take in this scenario?
- What policies and procedures should be employed during this event?
- How would you communicate with employees, stakeholders, and the public?
- What challenges might arise, and how would you address them?
6. Determine duration and format
Most tabletop exercises last between one and three hours. Decide on the format, whether it’s a single-session exercise or part of a larger emergency preparedness workshop.
How to conduct a tabletop exercise
Execution is the heart of a successful tabletop exercise. Follow these steps to ensure a seamless experience:
1. Start with introductions
Begin by introducing participants and outlining the objectives, scope, and expected outcomes of the exercise. This sets the tone and ensures everyone understands their role.
2. Present the scenario
Lay out the scenario step by step, providing context and details to immerse participants in the exercise. Encourage them to consider the situation realistically and collaboratively. You could utilize graphics, video clips, and audio aids to bring the scenario to life, but don’t let this overshadow the task at hand.
3. Facilitate discussion
Engage participants in conversations about their actions, decision-making processes, and potential challenges. Include open-ended questions to ensure participants can confidently address difficult scenarios. Address common issues, such as:
- Delays in sending emergency updates due to message drafting or approval bottlenecks.
- Sending alerts to incorrect recipients or failing to reach all necessary individuals.
- Omitting critical information in emergency communications.
- The impact on day-to-day operations and how to return operations to normal.
- Getting more resources if what’s been allocated to tackle the event falls short.
Make sure participants don’t get stuck or get off track while having discussions, and that everyone is contributing.
4. Document key points
Assign a scribe to record significant discussions, challenges, proposed solutions, and decisions. These notes will serve as a valuable resource for post-exercise evaluations. Alternatively, utilize recording software or an AI assistant to document the exercise.
5. Ensure takeaways are understood
Conclude the session by summarizing key insights and ensuring all team members understand their roles and the next steps.
Post-exercise evaluation
The work doesn’t end when the tabletop exercise concludes. A comprehensive evaluation is critical to transforming insights into actionable plans.
Gather feedback
Distribute surveys or conduct interviews with participants to gather their thoughts on the exercise. Ask questions like:
- What aspects of the plan worked well?
- Were there any unexpected challenges?
- How confident are you in your team’s ability to handle this scenario?
- What additional planning efforts or needs were discovered during this exercise? Did the team use AI to help analyze data?
- What additional partners should be included in future planning efforts to assist the organization/department/facility in responding to this type of event?
- What additional training needs have been identified as a result of participating in this exercise and/or needed to respond to this type of event?
Analyze results
Review the exercise notes and participant feedback. Identify strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in the strategy, and prioritize areas for improvement.
Develop an action plan
Create a detailed action plan to address identified gaps. This may involve updating policies, revising protocols, or conducting additional training sessions.
Share results with stakeholders
Communicate findings and improvement plans to all relevant parties. Transparency ensures that everyone stays aligned and committed to enhancing emergency preparedness.
Take the next step towards readiness
Tabletop exercises are more than a checkbox on an emergency preparedness to-do list. They are an investment in your organization’s safety, efficiency, and resilience. By planning and conducting effective exercises, you empower your team to make informed decisions under pressure, minimize risks, and safeguard your operations.
Crisis scenarios can evolve, and so must your response plans. Regularly conducting tabletop exercises ensures that your team remains prepared, agile, and equipped to handle both predictable and unexpected events. These exercises not only refine your strategies but also foster a culture of resilience and collaboration within your organization.
Take the first step in fortifying your organization’s crisis preparedness. Download your copy of the Crisis Communication Tabletop Exercise Guide today and equip your team with the tools they need to effectively manage challenges. This comprehensive guide will provide you with actionable steps to enhance your response capabilities and build a more resilient organization.
When unexpected disruption strikes, how prepared is your business to adapt? Whether it’s a natural disaster, a cyberattack, or a supply chain interruption, unforeseen events can derail operations in an instant. With the increasing frequency and complexity of modern risks, having a robust business continuity plan (BCP) is no longer optional; it’s essential.
Consider our evolving climate. Wildfires and droughts, typical of summers in Australia and the western United States, highlight the increasing prevalence of extreme weather events worldwide. Businesses must now prepare for the unexpected and the danger posed to employee safety, physical assets, and day-to-day business operations during these events.
In this guide, you’ll learn what a business continuity plan is, why it’s critical for organizational success, and how to create an actionable plan with step-by-step guidance. By the end, you’ll have the knowledge to safeguard your business against disruptions and ensure operational resilience.
What is business continuity?
Business continuity refers to an organization’s ability to maintain essential functions during and after a disruption. While it shares similarities with disaster recovery, which focuses on restoring critical systems, business continuity takes a more comprehensive approach. It encompasses people, processes, operations, and technology to ensure minimal downtime and quick recovery.
Business continuity plans initially were born out of a need for disaster recovery planning in the early 1970s. At the time, financial companies needed to store backup records away from computers, and recovery efforts were generally the result of disasters like fires and floods. The emphasis was on IT protection, which continued in the 1980s with the proliferation of commercial recovery sites for computer services. Globalization began to ramp up in the following decade as access to data became easier, facilitated by more complex computing systems.
Organizations understood that a more expansive plan was necessary, and business continuity meant integrating elements of disaster recovery planning, emergency preparedness, and crisis management.
The scope of business continuity
Business continuity extends across various organizational areas:
- Operations: Ensures uninterrupted delivery of products or services to customers.
- Personnel: Protects employee safety, well-being, and productivity.
- IT Systems: Recovers critical infrastructure and data to sustain business functions.
It is about building resilience, not just reacting to disasters.
Why is business continuity important?
A well-designed BCP is more than a risk management tool; it’s a strategic asset for success. Here’s why every organization needs one:
1. Risk mitigation
Disruptions are costly. According to a FEMA report, roughly 40% of businesses never reopen after a disaster, and 25% fail within a year. With a BCP, you can proactively identify vulnerabilities and minimize financial and operational losses.
2. Customer trust
Maintaining seamless operations during a crisis strengthens your reputation and customer loyalty. Downtime disrupts your services and erodes trust, which can take years to rebuild.
3. Regulatory compliance
Sectors such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing are required by law to have business continuity plans. Failing to comply can lead to penalties, lawsuits, and loss of contracts.
4. Protecting people
Potential loss of life from fires, pandemics, floods, or even active shooter situations underscores the need for proactive safety strategies.
How to create a business continuity plan (step-by-step guide)
Creating a BCP may seem daunting, but breaking it into manageable steps ensures every crucial element is covered.
Step 1: Assign directly responsible individuals (DRIs)
The first step when preparing a BCP is identifying who needs to lead, create, and execute it. Clearly define roles and responsibilities for team members:
- Identify who will activate the plan.
- Assign leaders to oversee recovery efforts and communication.
- Ensure team members understand their specific obligations.
- Collect essential contact details for key personnel and stakeholders.
- You may also want to include external parties, such as security contractors and facility or property managers.
Gathering this interdisciplinary team will also ensure alignment on roles and responsibilities, so no one is caught off guard during a disruption. Be sure each member has an on-call resource as a backup. That way should a disruption occur while a BCP lead is away, another subject matter expert can easily step into their role.
Step 2: Conduct a business impact analysis (BIA)
A BIA identifies critical operations and assesses the potential consequences of disruptions. It identifies the risks that could affect your organization and evaluates the degree of harm each could inflict upon its operations, such as regulatory fines, unfulfilled SLAs, or loss of income.
Here’s how:
- List critical functions:
- Examples include order processing, payroll, customer support, and IT infrastructure.
- Assess impact:
- Categorize impacts as financial, operational, legal, or reputational.
- Prioritize:
- Rank functions based on their importance to business continuity and the time required for recovery.
Step 3: Identify and evaluate risks
Analyze potential threats your organization might face. Common risks include:
- Natural disasters (e.g., floods, earthquakes)
- Cybersecurity threats (e.g., ransomware attacks)
- Supply chain disruptions (e.g., delays or shortages)
Evaluate risks based on likelihood and impact, then prioritize high-risk areas first.
Step 4: Develop recovery strategies
Determine the recovery time objective (RTO) for various scenarios. How much time do you have to restore operations to an acceptable level after certain kinds of disruption? For each identified risk, outline a plan to maintain operations:
- Alternate sites:
- Identify remote or backup facilities in case primary locations become inaccessible.
- Backup systems:
- Implement redundant IT infrastructure and off-site data storage.
- Communication plans:
- Use mass notification alerts to keep employees and customers informed during disruptions.
Here, Everbridge High Velocity CEM can play a pivotal role. Purpose-built with advanced AI, High Velocity CEM streamlines recovery plans by proactively addressing risks at scale. It empowers organizations to mitigate disruption, reinforces operational continuity, and enhances resilience. By integrating this system into your strategy, you ensure not only seamless decision-making but also the ability to turn resilience into a powerful competitive advantage in today’s increasingly volatile landscape.
Step 5: Create a communication plan
Effective communication minimizes confusion during a crisis. Your plan should include:
- Internal updates:
- Notify employees of disruptions and share instructions via email, intranet, employee apps, or messaging platforms.
- External communication:
- Inform customers and stakeholders with pre-approved templates for social media, press releases, and emails.
- Tools:
- Use platforms like Everbridge for real-time notifications and updates.
Step 6: Test and update the plan regularly
A plan is only as strong as its last real-world test. Conduct regular simulations and tabletop exercises to assess your BCP’s effectiveness and build your team’s confidence. Gather feedback, identify gaps, confirm technology meets objectives, and make necessary updates.
Ensure your business evaluates your plan against common scenarios such as severe weather, power and network/system outages, cyber-attacks, active assailants, data loss, etc.
Benchmark your plan against others in your industry. You may even want to bring in an external certified business continuity professional to assist in its review.
Key components of a business continuity plan
A comprehensive BCP should include the following:
- Emergency response procedures:
- Clear actions to be taken immediately following a disruption, including evacuation and communication strategies.
- Recovery procedures:
- Outline the steps for restoring critical operations to normal levels to minimize downtime and ensure data availability.
- Contact information:
- Up-to-date details for employees, vendors, and emergency contacts.
- Resource inventory:
- A list of essential tools, equipment, and software needed to continue operations.
Essential business continuity strategy best practices
To ensure your BCP is effective, follow these best practices:
- Regular training:
- Familiarize employees with the BC plan through on-site workshops and virtual sessions.
- Continuous improvement:
- Encourage feedback and periodic reviews to refine your strategies.
- Integration with business strategies:
- Align the continuity plan with your overarching goals to ensure seamless implementation.
- Cyber resilience:
- Implement regular penetration testing and robust data backup protocols as part of your resilience strategy.
Real-world examples of business continuity in action
CIBC Mellon utilized Everbridge’s polling capabilities to quickly survey our employees on how they commute to work so they could have a better idea of where employees were coming from, how they traveled, and use that information to better inform where recovery sites should be located.
Everbridge also supported CIBC Mellon by monitoring for potential threats and events and providing immediate, proactive situational awareness, potentially before the direct impact is felt or the first news reports are released about critical events.
Take the next step toward resilience
Creating a business continuity plan is more than an exercise in risk management; it’s a commitment to resilience, trust, and longevity. Whether your organization is facing natural disasters, technological challenges, or geopolitical risks, a robust BCP can mean the difference between recovery and ruin.
Start building your business continuity strategy today with expert support. Request a demo and see how Everbrideg empowers organizations to prepare, respond, and thrive in the face of adversity.