As part of the preparation for responding to an incident, plans should be in place to enable the response team to meet. Which of the following is NOT…

The assertion that meetings must always be physical is incorrect. Modern business continuity and incident response practices emphasize flexibility and the use of technology. Virtual meeting locations and collaboration tools are essential components of a robust response structure. They enable teams to convene and manage an incident when physical assembly is impossible or impractical, such as during a pandemic, a natural disaster restricting travel, or a denial-of-access incident. The choice between a physical or virtual meeting space depends entirely on the nature and context of the incident.

A. Plans must be documented and communicated to team members to be effective; otherwise, the team would not know the arrangements during an incident.

B. Relying on a single meeting location introduces a single point of failure. Standard resilience practice dictates having primary and alternate locations.

D. A stable power supply is a critical utility for any incident management location, physical or virtual, to support the necessary communication and information systems.

1. Business Continuity Institute (BCI)

Good Practice Guidelines (GPG)

2018 Edition. In Professional Practice 5 (PP5): Response

Section 8.4.3

"Incident Management Locations

" the guidelines explicitly discuss various types of locations

including dedicated incident rooms

alternative internal or external rooms

and virtual locations. The text states

"A virtual location can be used where team members are geographically dispersed or unable to travel to a physical location." This directly contradicts the absolute statement in option C.

2. ISO 22301:2019

Security and resilience — Business continuity management systems — Requirements. Clause 8.4.2

"Response structure

" requires an organization to establish a structure for responding to incidents. Clause 8.4.4

"Communication and warning

" requires procedures for communication. These clauses imply the need for effective and resilient methods of team coordination

which in modern practice includes virtual communication and collaboration platforms

especially when physical co-location is not feasible.

3. Hiles

A. (2011). The Definitive Handbook of Business Continuity Management (3rd ed.). Wiley. Chapter 25

"The Command Centre

" discusses the evolution of command centers

noting the increasing reliance on technology and virtual capabilities. It highlights that "virtual crisis management" allows teams to collaborate remotely

which is a critical capability for many types of disruptive incidents. This supports the invalidity of mandating a physical-only meeting location.