At an event sponsored by Coolidge Wall and hosted by the Dayton Business Journal, area businesses and experts discussed how best to prepare when disaster strikes. The panel included Andrew Schwartz, Corporate Counsel of Lion Group, Jamie Williams, President of Miami Valley Packaging Solutions, Jeff Lightner, President and CEO of Midwest Region Marsh & McLennan and Secure Cyber Defense’s CEO Shawn Waldman.
The panel discussion focused on how businesses need to prepare, test and continually refine their disaster planning to protect their businesses and their employees. Both Andrew Schwartz and Jamie Williams talked about the impact of the Memorial Day tornados on their businesses. Both Lion and Miami Valley Packaging Solutions’ buildings sustained heavy damage, impacting their ability to conduct business. Both agreed proper corporate disaster planning, being aware of the details of their insurance plans and having a network of commercial real estate and builder relationships in place are critical to resuming business as quickly as possible.
Shawn Waldman’s focus was being prepared in the case of a cybersecurity incident to protect a company’s ability to deal with and recover when their IT systems are held ransom or breached. Being prepared starts with being proactive by investing in cybersecurity insurance and having a thorough cybersecurity and incident response plan. Additionally, companies need to have a backup process and a team in place to actively monitor and deal with increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.