These shows are always a good indicator of where our industry stands. We’re anxious to hear your thoughts on the state of our industry or your opinions of these shows in the comments section!

Attendance: There seemed to be smaller attendance for both shows, but we’ve seen a decline over the past few years at trade shows in general. We can probably attribute most of this to the economic downturn.

Increase in “Vaporware”: We heard from many attendees that vendors are promising a lot when it comes to their software capabilities but are not delivering. The industry term for this has come to be known as “vaporware,” and we’ve heard it with increasing frequency in our daily interaction with fellow BC pros. (See our blog series about “What to Look For in Your BCP Software Vendor” which starts here.)

Strong Networking Opportunities: These events are known for bringing people together and offering tremendous networking opportunities, and they came through again in this regard. Having the entire industry in one place is always important, but we feel that people who attend these shows are genuinely interested in speaking with vendors and learning about new opportunities. It was great meeting everyone!

Emergency Notification Solutions Hot: There was a tremendous amount of traffic and interest around the emergency notification solution vendors such as Twenty First Century Communications. Strategic BCP is committed to working with companies like TFCC to make emergency notification a key part of business continuity plans at utilities, governments, educational institutions, and healthcare providers.

Need for Industry-Specific Software Tools: There were many attendees – especially in financial services, health insurance, and healthcare – that stressed the need for BCP software that addresses their respective verticals. This is something Strategic BCP’s executives and developers (who are BC planners themselves) have continued to improve over the years. Please contact us about the industries we serve and to discuss client references.

Business is Fairly Consistent: It seemed to attendees that business is somewhat consistent and that “the economy is coming back.” However, these were very general comments, and BC budgets are always being stretched. But we’re encouraged as we see a number of our clients in various industries begin to sustain economic growth.

Need for New Content: Many of the attendees we spoke with (and we agree) mentioned that they would like to see some fresh people, content, and discussions. We will be brainstorming with DRJ some new potential topics for these shows that address the needs and interests of our industry.

Again, if you have any thoughts or suggestions, please comment below.

The economy has put our profession under a tough magnifying glass where BCP as cost centers, mass document generation, and expensive solutions with little return are no longer passing muster. It’s a frustrating time, but also presents a unique opportunity to force us to be better – more than just document planners, but professionals who understand the inner workings of our operations and can put the pieces back together during the worst of times.  Now more than ever we must be creative – there are those that will pray for the status quo and try to skate by to the end, but as Business Continuity Professionals we are much better than that – let’s not wither away, but prosper as a profession by continuing to make ourselves better – by making our organizations better.