Commercial Initiatives Ltd

01/03/2024

We are looking forward to exhibiting at this year's National Housing Finance Conference on 13-14 March 2024. With well over 20 years of experience in the housing sector, our team is well-equipped to assist with your business continuity requirements. For more information, please visit our website at www.ci-bcp.com. We hope to see you there!

21/03/2023

This week we are delighted to be exhibiting at the CHC Governance Conference in Cardiff at the Radisson Blu Hotel today and tomorrow, and are presenting a session on Cyber Security and Business Continuity at 12 noon tomorrow, Wednesday 22 March.

08/03/2023

This year's NHF Housing Finance Conference & Exhibition is just one week away and on target to attract 1300 attendees. This event, the largest and most highly-regarded housing association finance event in the UK, will take place on 15-16 March at the ACC Liverpool.

We are delighted to be among the 100 exhibitors - all leading suppliers to the sector - and look forward to catching up with many of our existing customers and to making new acquaintances over the two days, so please do drop by to say hello - we are on Stand 900!

04/11/2020

We are delighted to be exhibiting online at , . Why not reach out to David and Chris for a chat about ?

03/11/2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us all to adapt quickly to new ways of working. Business continuity training remains of paramount importance and we have adapted our scenario exercises so that they can be carried out online.

Feedback from a happy customer: “A very useful session that enabled us to reflect on how we would deal with emergency situations. I learnt a lot through working through the practical exercises as a team. Stands us in a stronger position now if situations arise. Sessions were well facilitated by David and Chris.”

14/06/2020

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21/05/2020

12/05/2020

Whilst it is too soon to be fully confident that we can draw firm business continuity conclusions from the COVID-19 crisis, what is already clear is that building resilience into your organisation’s fabric is more important than ever.

The first step is to ensure that you are capturing all those “with hindsight” comments, i.e. what could have been done better. Capture also what has gone well and commit to a post-incident review session that will drive best practice into your future BC plans and business practices. Keeping a log will facilitate this.

Some organisations are finding that their plans are out of date and too prescriptive. Already we are seeing that organisations with robust and agile plans, that allow them to flex quickly to new realities as they emerge, are coping best. This pandemic has thrown up a raft of unforeseeable situations where old style, scenario-based plans have been less effective than ones that major on developing resilient teams who can achieve coping strategies on the move.

Another emerging theme is that too many businesses have had to up their game regarding crisis communications. Remote working, furloughed staff and IT challenges have left some organisations delivering less than effective internal and external messaging. Perhaps, post COVID-19, it is time to revisit this area which is proving so critical to corporate reputation and stakeholder confidence.

Finally, it is increasingly recognised that organisations having trained and exercised around predictable business risks such as the long-forecast pandemic are faring better than those having invested less time and attention. It pays to invest in regular training and to include your deputies - they may have to take the helm.

01/04/2020

Working from home will help to contain the spread of COVID-19 but it does come with its challenges. Here are some tips which might help to make the transition easier.

Be empathetic
We are all trying to cope with an unprecedented and worrying situation so, above all, be kind to others and be kind to yourself.

Dress for the occasion
Putting on your work clothes may help you to get into work mode and might also avoid any embarrassment during an impromptu video call! Treat it like a real job.

Recreate your workspace
We may be in for the long haul so, insofar as possible, make sure that you are able to work comfortably from home. Formal homeworker assessments may not be possible but NHS advice on how to sit correctly can be found here.

Connect with your colleagues
Loneliness can be a challenge when working from home. Although it might be helpful to have an email trail of events and actions, social connection is vital and a phone call will achieve more than a chain of emails, both in terms of productivity and personal wellbeing. Also, if you do not already have one, consider creating a WhatsApp group to stay in contact with your team and have virtual coffee breaks to catch up.

Establish a routine
It is important that you separate life from work. This is likely to be very hard at first, but keep at and it will soon become a habit. Designated play time with your children or exercise could be a useful buffer to switch off from work.

Exercise
Getting out and about can help to increase creativity and unravel mental blocks – the Latin saying mens sana in corpore sano, which translates to a healthy mind in a healthy body, is more relevant now than ever.

Take a break
Research has found that short breaks throughout the day are more beneficial than less frequent, longer breaks. Many home workers recommend a method of time management which breaks your working day into 25-minute chunks. Each chunk is followed by a five-minute break.

“There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither.” ~ Alan Cohen

17/03/2020

As the UK Government public health announcements come thick and fast and we look towards months of tightening movement restrictions, it is vital to review your next actions constantly. Running a close second to this must be the need to appraise actions taken to date and their impacts, and longer-term items that might just need to be amended in light of interim priorities.

As we enter this extended period of lockdown and anxiety, a reassuring rhythm of BC meetings and proactive communication to all key stakeholders, both internal and external, should be established. Knowing that management have a plan, are working consistently to give reasonable guidance and making best-effort decisions will go a long way to meeting staff/client expectations and pre-empt a natural tendency to worry or complain. Don’t be shy about communicating how you are ramping up normal planning and decision-making activities.

With the Government establishing daily afternoon press briefings, the implication is that management needs to convene with similar regularity, perhaps through scheduled teleconferences, to discuss immediate reactions following any new announcement. Establishing a routine will allow key stakeholders to anticipate regular communiqués at a scheduled time. Consider also communication cascades, out of hours website updates and morning follow-up meetings – all such things are sensible now. Now is the time to review planning assumptions for home working (e.g. kit, training and guidance for prolonged timescales).

Previous levels of BC planning will now be being evidenced in the resilience of policies and procedures to adapt and absorb the shocks we are all facing. Reviewing and updating these as you move forward will be vital as we don’t yet know how long we will have to endure, or who amongst us will be picking these plans up to use in the coming months.

12/03/2020

UPDATE: The Housing Finance Conference & Exhibition will now take place on Thursday 01 - Friday 02 October 2020.

We will be attending this year’s Housing Finance Conference & Exhibition at the ACC Liverpool on 18-19 March. Stand 201 - we look forward to seeing you there!

As well running our popular charity prize draw (£50 to the charity of your choice AND a bottle of champagne), we have lots of flower highlighters to give away and some very practical, hi-vis keyrings!