Operational shocks, digital disruption, emerging risks and crisis management all require critical conversations and good communication to go well. Ovida measures how effective the conversations were, reviews them against the benchmarks resilient leadership requires, and lets your leaders rehearse the scenario before the real disruption occurs. Confidence and success under pressure become trained, not accidental.
Why plans fail
The Business Continuity Institute has surveyed the level of training and scenario practice against successful outcomes for over a decade. Preparation is not the gap: the overwhelming majority of organizations run training and exercise their plans. It is the people element, in executing and communicating, that fails each time.
of organizations exercise their plans at least once a year
run training programs at least that often
leading reason plans still fail: lack of response from staff
Sources: Business Continuity Institute, Emergency & Crisis Communications Report 2025
Accountability was not clear. The conversation did not make clear who was responsible and accountable for what.
Under pressure, with incomplete information, people wait for certainty or clarity that isn't coming. Inaction worsens the situation.
Context and decisions made are not recorded and are lost in the handover or communication process.
Practice the conversation, not just the runbook.
Ovida enables you to run any scenario multiple times with an AI counterpart, privately. The role play feels as pressurised and as real as an actual event. Ovida scores your behaviours and skills consistently against those set by your organisation so you can see exactly what is working and what isnt.
Incident conversation behaviors
Good plans are executed badly. Clear concise articulation of the plan and issues is critical.
A ransomware attack takes down core systems mid-shift, and staff, customers and media all want answers at once.
Does leadership freeze, or communicate clearly and calmly?
Ovida measures how the crisis briefing goes, reviews it against your incident response benchmarks. Leaders can then rehearse the announcement before a real breach happens, so the first message lands with confidence rather than panic.
A key supplier collapses overnight, threatening delivery to major clients. The operations lead has to explain the impact to the executive team and reassure anxious customers, often the same day.
Does the response feel controlled, or chaotic?
Ovida measures how those conversations are handled, reviews them against your crisis communication benchmarks. Leaders can then rehearse the update before disruption strikes, so the response is deliberate rather than improvised.
The first time somebody runs the escalation should not be the time it counts. Practice happens privately, with no consequence for getting it wrong.
Rehearsed before it's realOvida helps measure skills and actions against agreed benchmarks and plans. Identifying either process gaps or people skills to improve.
Improve before it’s too lateOvida measure performance against your metrics and plans in a consistent way. Providing assurance that your plan and team are improving.
Assurance on your readinessTesting the team that will have to execute the plan in a cost and time effective way, builds business resilience.
The escalation, the holding statement, the call where nobody yet knows how bad it is. Having done the conversation cold several times is what makes the real one steady rather than improvised.
Ovida measures consistently and objectively against your plans and communication script, driving improvement.
Customers, regulators and staff experience an improved communication process.
What Ovida measures, how the scoring is checked, what happens to your data, and the questions people ask about business resilience.
Read the FAQsOther places conversations carry consequence
No confidential recording needed. We will walk you through a sample.
