Business As Usual provides Business Continuity (BC) health-checks, assistance with Executive board presentations, BC planning services, BCP templates, BCP exercise preparation/review, BCP training and BC planning for SMEs (small to medium enterprises). Other services include integration of ITIL (ITSCM) with BCP/DR processes, Business Process Improvement (including Sarbanes-Oxley/Basel II compliance, cost efficiency, and productivity improvement projects).

Biography of Rinske Geerlings, Managing Director of Business As Usual
MSc, CBCP (DRII), BCI Member, ITIL Master

Rinske has been specialising in Business Continuity (BC) Planning, Disaster Recovery (DR) and business process implementations for more than 14 years. She built extensive hands-on experience during permanent roles in banking, as well as Senior Management consulting and training roles.

Rinske is often sourced as a panel expert or speaker on Disaster Recovery subjects such as Terrorism, SARS and Avian Flu, and the related implications for Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well as major businesses. Key topics include ‘Developing practical Business Continuity Plans’, ‘How to promote BCP across your organisation’ and ‘How to perform successful DR exercises’.

Her company Business As Usual assists organisations with BC Health Checks (pre-audit assessments), executive/board presentations, benchmarking exercises, Disaster Recovery rehearsals, training, marketing and awareness programs. It also provides Business Process Improvement services - including (Sarbanes-Oxley) compliance, cost efficiency and productivity enhancement - and assists with integration of BCP/DR and ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library, ITSCM).

Practical skills gained during Rinske’s engagement in Europe and Australasia form the basis of her in-depth knowledge about process improvement in business and IT organisations. She also played an active role in the development of the current Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) standard for BCP (which affects all banks and insurance companies) through her involvement in the AllFinance Forum.

Major achievements

Rinske’s proven ability in IT Management Consulting/Training, Finance, Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and Disaster Recovery (DR) in Europe and Australasia, includes the following major achievements:

• Managed major efficiency initiative resulting in 30% productivity increases (equating to >$7.8m), whilst successfully facilitating organisational change and bringing together the right teams.

• As Business Continuity manager, implemented BC processes, achieved buy-in from all levels, introduced easy-to-maintain documentation structures and ensured staff awareness. Responsible for budget up to $1m, managed Business Unit relations and interim managed 30 specialists.

• Extensive experience in facilitating in-depth Business Continuity Management courses, having trained >150 individuals across Australasia in the first year of managing her own business. In the same period, she regularly spoke at events globally with over 1,000 delegates attending her interactive speeches.

• Successfully implemented cost efficiencies resulting in a reduction of company travel expenses by 25%, maintaining particular focus on coaching managers and retaining staff support for changes initiated.

• Certified CBCP by the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII), the Business Continuity Institute (BCI), and holds the ITIL Master Certificate – a rare combination of professional skills and accreditation.

• Elected NSW Young Business Woman of the Year by Business and Professional Women (BPW) in 2004.

Core skills

Business Continuity Management & Disaster Recovery Planning
Implemented process improvements with a focus on business requirements, feeding these into (IT) Disaster Recovery plans, creating easy-to-maintain documentation structures, initiating and maintaining BCP/DR exercise schedules, benchmarking BCP/DR services and creating ongoing awareness of BCP/DR across organisations. Extensive experience in developing and facilitating management workshops and training courses and ensuring buy-in for BCP, DR and other business processes from all levels of management.

Business Process Re-engineering
Productivity improvement projects with particular focus on addressing people issues, bringing together the right teams, coaching (senior) managers, facilitating organisational change and creating support from all levels.

Training and consulting
Facilitating BCM workshops and in-depth training programs across Australasia. Conducted IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Master Level training in IT Service Support & Delivery processes. Implemented and improved IT Management processes including Incident/Problem, Change and Configuration Management.

Project Management
Managed projects in areas of IT Management, Business Process implementation, productivity improvements and BCP/DR related projects, as well as compliance with standards like Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel II. Extensive experience in benchmarking, reviewing, optimising, integrating and implementing business processes.

Marketing/communication
Business-to-business Marketing strategy and events management (developed proposals, liased with consulting services customers, briefed Public Relations (PR) agencies and developed communication plans).

Policy development
Assisted with the development of the APRA (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority) standard for Business Continuity through involvement in AllFinance (all banks and insurance companies in Australia). Also involved in United Nations business forums and non-government organisations in a voluntary capacity.

Process management
Hands-on experience in the ongoing management of processes such as Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, Change Management, Configuration Management and IT Service Continuity Management.

Technical (IT) skills
Extensive experience co-ordinating specialised staff, across various technical environments and platforms, including Windows NT, HP, AS/400, Sun, Sybase and SQL.

Previous roles and employers

Manager of Special Projects (2005-2006), Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Manager (2002-2005) and Change Manager (1999-2002) at Rabobank Australia. IT Management Consultant and Trainer (1998-1999 at Pink Elephant Australia and 1994-1998 at PinkRoccade in The Netherlands).

References are provided at request.

Speaking engagements

Examples from Rinske’s engagement as a guest speaker at seminars in Australia and abroad include:

• 2007-present: Regularly facilitates 3-day, in-depth BCM training courses across Australia, NZ and Asia (ongoing)
• 2008: IQPC National Security Summit, “Security and Business Continuity - do they go hand in hand?” (Sydney)
• 2008: itSMF VIC Seminar presentation on ‘IT Disaster Recovery is just the tip of the iceberg’ (Melbourne)
• 2007: Presented at BCI Symposium - Oct 2007, on Incident Management Lessons (Amsterdam)
• 2007: Presented at itSMF Australia Conference on the importance of holistic BCM – Aug 07 (Melbourne)
• 2007: Facilitated BCM/DR workshop for Government and business groups – Oct 07 (Brunei Darussalam)
• 2007: Conducted BCM seminar for students and alumni - Masters in Engineering (Delft University, Holland)
• 2007: Accountants’ conference in Newcastle (250 delegates) - presented on topic ‘Dusting off your Continuity Plan’
• 2007: Conducting a Continuity Forum ‘Special Interest Group’ workshop on ‘How to create and maintain support and buy-in for BCP’
• 2007: Active participation in APEC Digital Economy forum and Women Leaders Network (WLN)
• 2007: Presentation and panel discussion on topic ‘IT Disaster Recovery is just the tip of the iceberg’ (BC conference in Amsterdam, Europe)
• 2006: CPA Australia’s 2006 congress (100+ accountants) on topic ‘Pandemic planning’ (Sydney)
• 2006: Continuity Forum’s 2006 conference on subject ‘Bird Flu’ (Melbourne)
• 2006: CPA Australia (120+ accountants) IT 2006 conferences (Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney)
• 2005: Participated in United Nations e-business seminar for Asia-Pacific region on behalf of non-government organisation BPW (Bangkok)
• 2005 and 2002: itSMF (600 IT Managers) conferences (Sydney and Brisbane)
• 2005: AFMA (80 BCP, DR and Finance managers) Avian Flu seminar (Sydney)
• 2003 and 2004: Marcus Evans (80 BCP/DR managers) ‘Continuity Forum’ (Sydney)
• 2003: AlphaWest (Disaster Recovery supplier) event on ‘Selecting a suitable DR Site provider’ (Sydney)

Examples of testimonials

• “Very informative! Instigated ideas, thoughts and questions to take back to the workplace” – Continuity Forum delegate, Melbourne

• “A range of useful topics were covered, including how to use tools to better identify the Business Continuity process objectives and how to utilise the many templates at different stages to easily collect and present information.” – BCM course participant, Singapore

• “Thought-provoking, and well researched. Knowledgeable presenter” and “Very interesting - Lots of good ideas” – CPA Australia participants, Sydney

• “Rinske successfully delivered the contents to suit every member from different environments of work” – DR/BCP Workshop participant, Brunei Darussalam

• “Lots of material - very good and on topic”, “Good, practical, work-through examples”, and “Very knowledgeable in BCP. Great ideas presented.” – Sydney IT workshop delegates

• “Rinske is very enthusiastic about the topic and this made a potentially dry subject matter enjoyable.” – BCM Course participant, Canberra

• “Excellent, very clear and useful” and “Good examples and tips” - IT conference participants, Sydney

• “The course had some exercises and role plays to get students to practice and incorporate materials learnt. This was very useful.” – BCM course delegate, Singapore

Click here for a full biography of Rinske Geerlings.

Clients… from SMEs to larger corporates

Business As Usual offers services relevant to larger corporates (whether in financial or other industries) and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) – directly, but also indirectly by assisting and coaching Audit, Training and IT/Management Consulting firms.

How can we help you?

Contact information
Telephone: (+61) 407 077 094
Fax: (+61) 430 10 7896
Postal address: GPO Box 3100 - Sydney NSW 2001 - Australia
info@businessasusual.net.au