Sometimes, there is a true crisis: not an “IT crisis” coming from some weird incident in the batch process. A real crisis, coming from the real people who have a real job: the “business”. Often, there is a direct impact on the IT Production. As the dependence on IT is more and more important for all fields of economic activity (from industry to insurance, through banks and even agriculture), IT teams need to react quickly to alleviate the pain of the crisis, to fill the gaps, to hold the line… We are the new rank and file soldiers of the 21st century conflicts.
Sometimes, we are a bit bewildered by what might seem to be some kind of overreaction or under reaction from the IT and Business management, who often push odd changes quickly. Anyway, this is always good for at least one thing: communication to the investor and public. They will have the feeling that IT teams are doing something against that blasted crisis that threatens their profits. And since neither the public nor the investor are usually proficient in IT complex issues, it is often more useful, while you really check what’s wrong, to announce simple measures that can be understood by everybody.
That’s the art of crisis communication: positive and simple, yet efficient.
Never forget one thing, though: good crisis communication never fixed any crisis issue. It only gives you some time, at best.
