A survey by IABC says that only 67 percent of companies are prepared for the next crisis even though more than 80 percent say a crisis communication plan is clearly a key buisness tool:

Despite a year of natural disasters and organizational crises, only two in three companies are prepared to manage and respond to the next crisis that affects them, according to a recent survey conducted by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). The survey also reports strong support for crisis communication plans: An overwhelming 99 percent of respondents who had crisis plans found them to be effective in dealing with crises in 2005. Additionally, if a crisis occurred tomorrow, 80 percent of respondents said implementing a crisis communication plan would help limit the overall negative impact on business.

IABC surveyed 600 communicators and discovered some other interesting facts:

• After experiencing a crisis with no plans in place, 46 percent of respondents said their organizations were beginning to develop crisis communication plans.
• 42 percent said their organizations were still taking no action.
• Of the communicators who work in organizations without crisis communication plans, 54 percent said they didn’t have plans because of lack of senior management support.

The survey was conducted by IABC member Robert Holland in conjunction with Gill Research in collaboration with the IABC Research Foundation. IABC says that detailed information will be published in the March/April issue of Communication World, IABC’s member magazine.

Last month, IABC launched their News Centre. Among the benefits of that online resource is RSS feeds which is where I discovered this news. It’s unlikely I would otherwise have learned about this survey before the member magazine was published. Nice work, IABC.

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