Many business continuity plans in the Gulf were written for floods, power failures and IT outages. Few were tested against the scenario that matters most during regional escalation: airports and airspace closing at short notice, sometimes for days, while staff, visitors and critical suppliers are on the wrong side of the closure.
Start with the assumption that people cannot move
Ask what would happen if no one could fly in or out for five days. Who is in country who should not be? Who is outside who needs to be in? Which decisions require a person physically present, and who else could make them? The answers usually expose a dependence on a handful of travelling executives and specialists.
Map your critical people, not just your critical systems
- Identify the roles that must be filled locally for operations to continue.
- Name a deputy for each, resident in country.
- Keep an accurate, live record of who is in country, including visitors and contractors.
- Agree in advance who can authorise spending, contracts and safety decisions if the usual signatory is absent.
Plan the alternatives before you need them
Road routes to neighbouring countries, alternative airports and charter options all have limits: border formalities, capacity, cost and their own security conditions. Assess them in calm conditions and record what each would require. A plan that says “drive to the border” without visas, vehicles, drivers and fuel is not a plan.
Decide your triggers and your stay-put position
Most disruption is best met by staying put safely: working from home or a secure office, with supplies for several days. Define the conditions that would move you from normal operations to restricted movement, to shelter in place, and to relocation, and who decides at each step.
Protect the supply chain
Shipping disruption and airport closures affect spares, consumables and inventory. Identify single points of failure, hold buffer stock of what you cannot operate without, and qualify alternative suppliers and ports in advance.
Test it
A two-hour tabletop exercise built around “airports close tonight for five days” will reveal more gaps than any document review. Run it with the people who would actually make the decisions.
How AxsuR helps
AxsuR reviews continuity plans against realistic regional scenarios, designs relocation and stay-put arrangements, and runs exercises that test them. Crisis management and business resilience.