Naturally, when an organisation is talking about building, or reforming, its crisis management plan, someone wants to know, ‘So…how much will a crisis management plan cost us?’.
And our answer to this is, ‘It varies and it depends on a few things.’
We provide crisis management planning services to a range of different clients and the cost of developing a crisis management plan varies significantly between them.
For example:
a small organisation might use our DIY online Crisis Plan Generator to develop a basic plan for $489 in around 30 minutes (if they have the right information on hand)
a large, complex organisation might engage us to develop a highly customised plan, which might cost tens of thousands of dollars and take several months
So, what are the key factors that will influence the cost?
The top three things that will influence the cost are:
Your organisation’s level of maturity around crisis management
The size and complexity of your organisation and the plan’s scope
The level of customisation and support you need in the planning process
I’ll explain these in a little more detail...
1. Your organisation’s level of maturity in this area
The following sorts of things indicate maturity level:
existing arrangements Is this your first foray into crisis management planning, or are you replacing or reforming something existing?
history of crisis events Has your organisation ever experienced a crisis/crises? If so, how recently, how serious, what were the outcomes?
current attitude and culture Do employees, and especially senior leadership, see crisis management as an important priority?
2. The size and complexity of your organisation and the plan’s scope
To ascertain size, complexity and scope we consider things like:
stakeholder base the range of stakeholders essential to your organisation’s success
footprint the range of divisions/sites/countries a plan needs to cover
risk environment the range and type of crisis events your organisation is vulnerable to
3. The level of customisation and support your organisation needs in the planning process
Basic DIY vs full shebang
Do you need lots of advice and supporting resources to get the job done, or is a basic DIY template sufficient?
As I mentioned earlier, you can purchase a basic template, or use an online tool like our Crisis Plan Generator, and populate the information in-house to produce a basic plan.
OR, you can engage a crisis management specialist to consult with your organisation, develop a customised framework for your plan, draft the content and assist with all the backend preparation required alongside the planning.
As you can see, developing a crisis management plan could be a relatively simple and inexpensive undertaking for some organisations, especially small ones. For large or complex organisations, it’s likely to be more involved.
Of course, the easiest way to find out how much a crisis management plan will cost your organisation is to reach out to us and ask!
If you’re thinking about building, or reforming, a crisis management plan at your organisation, get in touch. We can discuss the variables in relation to your business, and suggest a solution that fits your needs.
Now, having said all this, I also want to stress that a crisis management plan is only one part of an overall crisis management program. The plan is a cornerstone, but it absolutely won’t be effective if it stands alone.
You need to embed and support your organisation’s crisis management plan with contemporary technology, training and exercising.
If these essentials aren’t part of your crisis management program, your plan is doomed to fail when you need it most.