Agile Business Continuity

Jan Husdal is a Researcher with the Transport Economics Research Group at Møreforsking Molde/Molde Research Institute in Molde, Norway. His website and blog Husdal.com is quickly becoming an important resource for risk management, business continuity and in particular supply chain risk research. You can follow Jan on twitter at @janhusdal and he aslo has a comprehensive linked in profile.

Here is my interview with Jan.

How did you get started in the industry?
Short story: I now work as a Researcher in Transportation and Logistics, and I’m doing a PhD in Supply Chain Risk. Long story: It began in the late 80s, when I was working with several regional government agencies in Norway, and where my job was to audit the risk assessment and disaster management plans of the local government authorities. This was the time when the term “critical infrastructure” began to emerge in the public mind for the first time. Before that I was working as a civil engineer and road planner, so naturally, disruptions in transportation and supply became my focus area. I once envisioned a career in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and I do hold a Master Degree in GIS, but the interest in risk and how to deal with it called me back to where I think I belong and where I can do most good.

What is your most important aspect of the work you do?
The company I work for is linked to Molde University College, which promotes it self as the Norwegian School of Logistics. However, supply chain risk appears to be not an important part of the curriculum, and even among the teaching staff there seems to be little interest. I’ve been a guest lecturer in supply chain risk for the 2nd year in a row now, and my hope is to one day establish a small community of supply chain risk academics and researchers at the college.

How do you think Supply Chain Risk and Business Continuity will develop over the next 5 years?
Currently Business Continuity and Supply Chain Risk are still divided, although I can see a trend towards merging these two, as more an more companies realize how dependent their survival as a company actually is on their supply chain, among others due to the complex web of suppliers, partners and customers that comes with outsourcing and globalization. When companies start to see that they are not a company with a supply chain, but they are their supply chain, that’s when supply chain risk management and business continuity management become as one. My favorite quote is (and I’m not sure if I have grabbed this from someone else or come up with it my self): A well-handled supply chain disruption means business continuity, while an ill-handled supply chain disruption can mean business dis-continuity, as the demise of Ericsson and merger with Sony after the Albuquerque fire incident, compared to how Nokia emerged from it, is a textbook example of.

What was the biggest lesson you’ve learned during your years in the industry?
One thing I’ve learned about supply chain risk is that there is always something new to discover. There’s always something you hadn’t thought about before that could happen, or in fact did happen. That’s why supply chain risk research will never run out of cases for case studies.

Why do you choose to work in the Supply Chain Risk and Business Continuity field? (Question put by Ken Simpson)
Because it is a fascinating field to work in – because it concerns everything. There is not one business area that is not somehow inflicted with risk or continuity issues. I think it is a very uniting field, that brings together many if not all of other fields of doing business.

I would like to thank Jan for taking the time to be interviewed and hope that you take the time to visit husdal.com. If you think your own blog should be profiled here, then please feel free to email me at paul@agilecontinuity.org