During the implementation of their business continuity strategies and plans, many organisations will put together a “battle box”, containing all the vital information and other stuff that they’re likely to need to enable effective incident management and recovery. This is a splendid idea.

For some organisations, however, ensuring access to the “battle box”, particularly out of hours, can present some challenges, as can keeping the information in it up to date. Even selecting a location that’s far enough away not to be affected by the incident but near enough to get to in a hurry isn’t always easy.

So why not consider supplementing the physical battle box with a virtual, online version?

A couple of secure web pages, hosted offsite, can do the job admirably, perhaps with some general information that’s available to all staff (with the correct password, of course) on one page plus some department or team-specific pages (each with its own password) for information that you want to restrict access to.

There will always be a place for the physical battle box. After all, it’s difficult to store pieces of equipment online!

But supplementing it with a virtual battle box can help ensure that your vital information is available when you need it most.