Assurance Software has completed its acquisition of Avalution Consulting, in the latest M&A deal in the business continuity software market. The combined company serves more than 850 customers in 30 countries, offering business continuity consulting, software, staffing and data analysis.

AXA XL Risk Consulting has launched a virtual risk assessment service to help maintain client service continuity amid COVID-19 restrictions. Remote Risk Dialogue enables the insurer's risk engineers to perform remote analysis not seen in traditional loss prevention programmes and provide risk managers, underwriters and brokers with an up-to-date view risks.

Chaotic scenes in supermarkets, tension and even brawls on public transport over mask-wearing and coughing, fake news, fake remedies, and alarming headlines around the stockpiling and resale of PPE at exorbitant prices all characterise the darker side of what can happen when people are faced with a pandemic.

Coronavirus is the latest and most impactful challenge faced by the global economy but trade tensions, geopolitical uncertainty and Brexit also present threats to continuity in 2020. Against this backdrop, Euler Hermes has downgraded a record 18 countries and 126 sector risk ratings due to recession risk and COVID-19-related bankruptcies.

We cannot avoid talking about the pandemic currently affecting the global business environment. It is, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in one of his many recent briefings,“the worst global health crisis in a generation”.

Gala Dinner and Awards Presentation will now take place on Wednesday 9th December.

When it comes to disruption, we’ve seen it all. Over the decades, businesses have had to combat a growing number of threats – whether they take the form of natural disasters, terrorism, global cyber attacks, and just about any unexpected scenario you can imagine. But, as the spread of COVID-19 has shown, it’s clear that new and unprecedented threats of disruption will continue to emerge that will challenge the agility of all businesses globally.

Less than half of safety and performance improvement recommendations put forward for critical energy infrastructure are fully implemented, new research reveals, greatly increasing the risk of failure, fatality or fire posed by transformers.

The COVID-19 outbreak is forcing millions of employees to work from home, presenting organisations with an unprecedented challenge -- keeping as many business-critical functions running as possible whilst maintaining cyber security. According to information security experts at Veridium, this represents the greatest ever cyber security threat firms have ever faced.

Each firm’s designated Senior Manager or equivalent person is responsible for identifying which of their employees are unable to perform their jobs from home, and have to travel to the office or business continuity site, according to guidance issued by the Financial Conduct Authority.

BSI has today made public a suite of resilience standards to help businesses navigate the challenges associated with the coronavirus pandemic.

Willis Towers Watson has launched an tool that provides real-time information on confirmed global COVID-19 cases alongside clients’ property total insured values by location. Part of its Global Peril Diagnostic modelling tool, the new feature enables clients to easily track developments of the pandemic set against their property assets around the world.

From today, government support for businesses will be available to help businesses maintain continuity and manage cashflow in the face of the global economic emergency brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The combined impact of increased home working and the closure of schools across the UK could place a severe burden on internet infrastructure, with the EU asking the main video streaming platforms to adapt the way they deliver their service in order to help reduce the load.