AI-driven crisis simulations will help manufacturers build greater resilience 5 min read This blog post was authored by Maarten Schreuder - Associate Director, Technology Consulting and Rob Grondhuis - Senior Manager, Technology Consulting on Protiviti's Technology Insights blog.In today's unpredictable world, organisations are constantly innovating to prepare their teams for crises. Traditional training methods fail to replicate the complexity and unpredictability of real-world crises and often lack customisation for specific organisational needs. This is where AI-powered crisis simulations revolutionise training, offering an advanced and tailored approach to crisis preparedness.Make no mistake: Crisis planning and preparedness remains a significant challenge for many organisations, even after the lessons learned during the global pandemic. Issues can be particularly acute within the IT department. To illustrate, in a survey conducted by DataCore Software, 54% of businesses reported experiencing a downtime incident in the past five years that lasted at least eight hours. According to research from Datto, a global provider of security and cloud-based software solutions, hourly costs resulting from IT disruptions can reach as high as US$5million per hour. Topics Business Performance Why are crisis simulation exercises essential?Periodic crisis-simulation exercises are crucial in building organisational resilience and meeting compliance requirements. They are instrumental for several reasons:Preparing for the unforeseen: Organisations must anticipate and effectively respond to emergencies to mitigate potential damage.Strengthening resilience: Simulations help organisations test and enhance critical response skills, thus fortifying the organisation's resilience.Creating awareness and education: Crisis-simulation exercises serve to educate employees about their roles during crises and increase their awareness of potential threats.Where traditional crisis simulations fall shortTraditional crisis simulations often fall short for two reasons. Either they are too generic and not tailored to the organisation, with off-the-shelf scenarios for a broad audience rather than a specific group, or they are highly customised and specific, often used as a one-off, and come at a high cost. This can lead to crisis simulations being conducted only at the management level and not at other levels within the organisation.AI-powered crisis simulations offer numerous advantagesAI-powered crisis simulations offer a solution to these limitations with unlimited scenarios (figure 1). These simulations employ generative AI to create lively, tailored scenarios that evolve based on participants' responses. Unlike traditional methods with predefined scenarios, AI-powered crisis simulations bring new developments as the scenario unfolds (figure 2). The attendees’ responses during the crisis simulation exercise immediately impact the scenario and further developments, which is less the case in traditional exercises. Attendees’ responses are fed back into the AI model in real time, enabling their actions to impact and determine the course of the crisis. This aspect of the simulations ensures that participants are not just passive learners but active players, whose decisions have tangible consequences. The scenarios mirror the unpredictability of real-world crises, providing a dynamic, engaging and highly realistic training environment. AI-powered crisis simulation exercises should be led by experts who encourage attendees to employ critical thinking and decision making and who can steer and correct the AI-model where needed. The AI model operates in the background and out of sight of the simulation participants, allowing the crisis simulations to be an engaging and tangible experience – not just an interaction with a tool. With expert guidance and interactive elements, the simulations offer strong engagement and improved learning outcomes. Image A dynamic experience: engaging real-time exercisesWith their live-scenario generation capabilities, AI-powered crisis simulations offer a unique experience. No two simulations are alike; each is generated in real time based on decisions made by participants. This dynamic approach demands immediate reaction, creating a highly engaging and realistic training environment. A well-designed generative AI tool, ideally operating in a secure environment in which queries and outputs are not in shared public domains, can generate unlimited scenarios with AI, tailored to the participants. As an example, we generated the following possible scenarios and images, with specific relevance for organisations in the manufacturing and distribution industry group, using our organisation’s private and secure generative AI technology: Image Scalable and adaptable for different organisation levelsAnother advantage of AI-powered crisis simulations is their scalability and adaptability to different organisational levels, providing relevant training across various departments and positions.Board members: Concentrate on strategic decision-making and organisationwide crisis management.Managers: Tackle leadership, collaboration and policy effectiveness.Operational staff: Focus on handling operational challenges and policy application.These simulations are not just testing tools; they also are instrumental in enhancing essential skills like problem-solving, decision-making, communication, leadership, emotional intelligence, stress management, ethical thinking, risk awareness and situational analysis.AI-driven crisis simulations represent a major advancement in organisational preparedness and resilience building. These cutting-edge training exercises equip manufacturers for real-world crises more effectively than traditional crisis simulations. By integrating AI into crisis management training, organisations can greatly improve their readiness, awareness and proactive crisis management strategies. This innovation not only prepares employees for potential crises but also fosters a culture of resilience and readiness, essential for navigating the complexities of today's world.Protiviti Managing Director Anneke Wieling also contributed to this article.
