Information sharing and management has become one of the leading concerns of medium-sized and large enterprises. From security concerns to information management during times of crisis, companies need to be prepared at all times. They need to have strategies for operational crisis, financial crisis, legal hassles and social media stupidities.

The recent example of bad crisis management by FIFA had many people in uproar. We believe Jennifer Vickery, CEO of National Strategies Public Relations summed it up best, According to her: “FIFA is possibly learning ‘one thing does has to do with another.’ This is an interesting communications position FIFA is in as they hold strong on a stance of innocence despite an outpouring of arrests, facts, details and shame. They are in a domino effect of lies and unethical behavior.”

Information Management

A defiant FIFA president stating that the cause of arrests was to stop him from being re-elected. Source: NyTimes

Now if you have been keenly following FIFA crisis, you would know that FIFA members were called foolish to have elected and re-elected Blatter despite him being unaccountable and unresponsive during the crisis. At times like this, internal communication between members would have helped salvage the situation quickly. So we summed up a few takeaways for organizations from this crisis.

  • While it is important to respond quickly to crisis, it is equally important to know how to respond. Silence is not always the best policy. You must first turn to your directors and managers to plan a way out.
  • Have clarity of thought and principles within the organization from top to bottom to ensure smooth information sharing and management. If you get your crisis strategy within organization straight, it becomes easier to manage information that will be passed outside the organization.
  • Many tools are available for sharing and communication within organization like DropBox, Skype and Yammer. However, these tools have their own limitations. More often than not, they become a breeding ground for rumours and scandalous talks rather than constructive crisis communication. Also during times of crisis, it is difficult to manage and track conversations through these channels.
  • It is wise to commit to regular crisis management exercises, proper communication channel and secure information sharing. Regular checks must be made to see if your team is up-to-date with this crisis management plan. Look for information leaks and loopholes.
  • If you are able to instil confidence in your staff, you have won half the battle. Internal information control and management is the first and the most important step followed by dialog and communication with government authorities, press etc.
  • Use proper channels to send out information to press, associates and general public. Ensure you have carefully-phrased documents, you are sending out only the latest document versions and you have got the address right! Docsvault’s version control and shared link features can come handy at times like this.
  • Proper categorization of documents and easy accessibility is a key element of information sharing & management. A quick overview of the type of document and its content is useful to speed up the information sharing process. Docsvault’s document profiling and tagging features are quite adept at carrying out these tasks.

We really wish that none of our readers / clients ever face a crisis like this but still would urge them to ensure they are well prepared. Docsvault has several security, sharing and management tools & features that make it easy for organizations to handle crisis, all you need to know is how to do it!