New Norwich master’s program plans for the worst

Norwich University's School of Graduate Studies implemented a new online program in business continuity management (MSBC), the first program of its kind in the United States.

"This is a very new area of business," said John Orlando, director of the program. "Companies employ business continuity managers to ensure that places keep functioning and can continue serving customers during a crisis."

Business continuity management focuses on strategies that allow organizations to continue operating during a crisis, such as a fire, power failure, or hardware crash, according to the MSBC website. Without a continuity strategy, businesses would not be able to service customers while also recovering from whatever crisis occurred.

"If a business burns to the ground, for example, it can't keep serving customers," Orlando said. "The business will rebuild and be back in one year, but all the customers are gone."

Even when a major phone center loses service for just three hours, customers get angry and may switch phone service.

"Even these small disruptions lose customers," he said.

Crisis Management

The events of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina have brought business continuity management into the forefront and has garnered a major growth in the job industry. In April 2006, CNN Money identified Business Continuity Director as one of the "Seven Trendy New Jobs."

The average salary is around $130,000 a year, and students sometimes get promoted before they even get the degree, Orlando said.

Orlando also said that during 9/11, a few businesses were up and running again because they had agreements with places in uptown Manhattan where they could move to and continue serving customers. They had prepared for a crisis and had systems in place so they could keep afloat during the hardest of times.

"Part of business continuity is emergency management; what to do to literally save life and limb and actually save lives because, really, workers are ultimately a company's greatest asset," Orlando said.

There are regulations in place by the federal government to ensure businesses around the country have business continuity plans. But the federal government itself is required to have a plan as well.

"Government law currently requires the government to have its own business continuity program," Orlando said. "The government has to function itself if it's going to help serve the public during a time of need."

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 recommends continuity programs for businesses. In August of 2007, the federal government passed the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, which requires the Department of Homeland Security to encourage the development of continuity programs in the United States.

"Businesses in Vermont will soon find that if they don't have business continuity plans, they'll have to get them with the way federal regulations have been handed down," Orlando said. "So we're planning for that as well."

Higher Education in Shaky Economy

Orlando has a PhD in philosophy. After teaching in Essex for a while, he taught online courses and headed to Norwich to develop online programs. He has published a few articles about business continuity but now, his job is more of a coordinator.

"My personal background is in developing online programs, not teaching," Orlando said. "We have a number of experienced faculty who will be teaching the program."

The first group of MSBC students will begin classes in December. As of now, 17 students are enrolled. There are four start dates per year during the months of March, June, September and December.

"We have 17 students now but since we enroll four times per year, we can hope for 55 or so in any particular year," he said. "It's promising that it's grown this quickly in a challenging economy."

Students are afraid to invest in a higher education program for a job they may not have in the future, Orlando said. Some are nervous that an investment in a master's program won't pay off down the line.

Part of this fear comes from an overlap in jobs when businesses merge. With two business continuity managers merging into one company, one will lose their job.

But Orlando said that by obtaining a masters degree, students will have that extra edge to beat out potential competitors which is why investing now is so important.

"Ours is the first master's degree in the field, and so anybody with the degree will have a credential that others do not have," he said. "During a challenging economy, people tend to go back to school to get credentials that will put them ahead of others in the competition for jobs."

He also said that since business continuity is a rapidly growing field, getting a master's degree is a great segue into another profession. Students will get real world experience while learning and completing their studies, he said.

Online Convenience for 'Mid-Career' Students

The vast majority of students in the business continuity program have been in the work force for about 10-15 years. The average age of a student in the program is 35. Many students were already in the business continuity industry but wanted a master's to improve, extend and continue their education, Orlando said.

"It's people that are in, what we call, 'mid-career,' he said. "They're in a current job position but they're starting to become mid-level managers. And they find that without a master's, they won't get the next vice president level."

Not only do these students have to balance a heavy work load for the program, they have to balance their family and career as well. The business continuity management program at Norwich is an online program, providing these students with a major benefit: convenience.

"This kind of program is the only way they can fit an education into their lives," Orlando said. "These students are working adults with families. They can't leave their jobs for 4-5 years to get an education."

But taking a class online leads people to think that there is no interaction between students and professors, which is untrue, Orlando said.  

"Online programs are vastly misunderstood," he said. "People think it's a solitary experience, but there's a considerable amount of interaction with online discussion boards."

The program requires students to post questions and answer each other on these discussion boards. One question posted even garnered 200 posts, Orlando said. This is a better way to get students to talk directly to one another, compared to a normal classroom. There, he said, students don't get as much of a chance to talk to each other; they mostly talk to the professor.

Students enrolled in the program are also working professionals. Not only are they speaking to other students, they're speaking with colleagues in the business continuity industry as well.

"They get to talk to colleagues in the field about things that concern them," Orlando said. "Our students make lasting relationships. Networking is so important to stay current in this field, which we build right into our online program."

One of the most important elements of the program is the final project done by each student. Students take weekly reports they did throughout the year and compile them into a final project.

According to the MSBC website, the employer of each student must agree to permit and support the analysis and, when necessary, improvement of business continuity in the organization.

"Our courses meld theory with practice by requiring students to apply what they're learning to the real world," Orlando said. "They make a report and can say, 'Here is where I'd recommend improvements'."

Future of MSBC

This new master's program will not only boost professionals already working in the business continuity field, but it will also boost business located here in Vermont.

"It'll help sell Vermont as a place with a 'knowledge asset,'" Orlando said. "Vermont needs something to attract employers and one of the things Norwich can provide an employer is providing potential employees with an education. It's a signal that Vermont can become a knowledge source, an education source."

The program is working with businesses already in the state, and asking them what they can do to help service these businesses and its customers.

"We're going to start reaching out to Vermont businesses like IBM and the state government," Orlando said. "We're certainly going to reach out to them to start trying to work with them."

Booz Allen Hamilton is a large consulting firm which does work with the federal government and private businesses. The company is very interested in the program so it can develop systems for customers, Orlando said. There's also been interest from the federal government to work with and educate people who create continuity operations for the non-profit sector, he said.

"This is a growing field but somewhat little known," Orlando said. "But there is tremendous job opportunity here. There aren't a lot of higher education programs focusing on it. We're the first."

Leanne Ouimet is a freelance writer from Colchester.