In this week’s bulletin, Charlie reflects on his recent Scottish Continuity Group conference and talks about the potentials of artificial intelligence (AI) in our organisations.
This week, I attended the Scottish Continuity Group conference, which had a great turnout and featured numerous excellent speakers. Thanks to the organisers, it was a well-run and organised event. It was particularly pleasing to observe that the majority of the speakers hailed from Scotland. In the past, I’ve voiced concerns to the organisers about the excessive presence of speakers from outside Scotland, advocating instead for showcasing the talent within our own country.
I delivered a presentation titled ‘Innovations and Trends: A Close Look at the BCI’s GPG 7.0 and the Future Landscape of Business Continuity’, where I discussed methodology changes outlined in the GPG 7.0, focusing on resilience, cyber threats, AI, and the future of business continuity as a profession. I aimed to make the presentation interactive by encouraging audience participation, prompting them to raise their hands in response to questions, such as whether they had undergone CBCI training. When I started into the AI section of my presentation, I asked the audience whether they utilised AI in any form as part of their work. Surprisingly, only two individuals slightly sheepishly raised their hands. It was unexpected that many more hadn’t explored or at least experimented with the technology, endeavouring to comprehend its relevance to our profession and activities.
From my readings and engagement with general discourse on the subject, it appears that AI will bring about profound changes in our jobs and lives, akin to societal shifts brought on by inventions like the printing press, the industrial revolution, or the internet. I believe AI will eliminate many of our jobs and tasks that consume our time, while simultaneously creating new roles and automating mundane aspects of our work. Wouldn’t it be great if you could generate a business impact analysis or update your plan to reflect organisational changes with just a click of a button?
Many of our jobs hinge on the breadth of our knowledge and our ability to tackle complex tasks. However, if AI possesses equivalent knowledge and capabilities, it raises questions about the necessity of human employment. While AI currently requires human oversight, future advancements may enable it to autonomously validate its decisions. Although the full implications remain uncertain, it’s important that we monitor these developments and remain adaptable to potential shifts in our profession.
During my presentation, I highlighted numerous ways AI can benefit the business continuity profession:
- Quality assurance of text
- Policy writing
- Suggesting exercise scenarios
- Developing exercise injects
- Writing news articles and social media posts for exercises
- Developing training materials
- Drafting plan components
- Writing articles on subjects (p.s. I am still writing the bulletins)
- Writing press statements
The more we utilise AI, the more we learn its limitations and understand its strengths. At its current stage, AI reminds me of the early days of the internet, characterised by dial-up connections and limited information access. Many of us will remember the days of CompuServe! As AI changes what we do and the world around us, as part of our horizon-scanning role, we should understand what it can do, how we can embrace it, and understand the changes AI is making to our profession and the world around us.
