Small businesses are the backbone of the economy, but they are also often the "weakest link" in a global supply chain. In this episode of Risk Management: Brick by Brick, host Jason Reichl sits down with Rochelle Clarke, Founder of Continuity Strength, to discuss the vital importance of business continuity for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).
Rochelle shares her transition from a high-level strategy consultant at a global FMCG company to launching a tech-driven solution that productizes resilience. After experiencing a personal crisis in a family business where "no one knew where anything was," Rochelle realized that SMBs needed a simple, consistent way to manage risk.
We dive into the "monitoring gap" in procurement, the reality of how attackers use small vendors as gateways to major corporations—citing the 2013 Target breach—and how AI is finally allowing small teams to oversee thousands of vendors with confidence.
To find out how TrustLayer manages risk so that people can build the physical world around us, head to TrustLayer.io.
Podcast Host: Jason Reichl
Executive Producer: Don Halliwell
Episode Highlights
- 00:47 – Meet Rochelle Clarke: Founder of Continuity Strength and her mission to simplify SMB risk.
- 01:09 – Tech-Driven Resilience: Defining how Continuity Strength makes vendor assessments consistent and end-to-end.
- 02:12 – The FMCG Foundation: Overseeing global business continuity agendas at a major global corporation.
- 02:40 – The Genesis Story: How a family accounting firm crisis during tax season inspired a new approach to planning.
- 05:03 – Significant Challenges: Navigating resource constraints and the "monitoring gap" in vendor management.
- 06:44 – Non-Core Activities: Why small businesses often only prioritize risk management when required by contracts or RFPs.
- 08:19 – The Role of AI: How automation streamlines assessments and reporting for thousands of SMB vendors.
- 10:13 – The Resilience Score: Creating a consistent baseline to measure if a vendor's risk profile is improving over time.
- 11:25 – Practical Compliance: Why "one-size-fits-all" due diligence fails small businesses and leaves corporations vulnerable.
- 12:52 – Red Flags: Identifying lack of transparency and responsiveness as indicators of broader operational issues.
- 16:21 – The Target Breach: A real-world example of how a small HVAC vendor became a gateway for a massive corporate compromise.
- 18:20 – Preparing to Adapt: Why continuity is about the ability to adapt quickly rather than predicting every possible disruption.
- 20:04 – Advice for the Younger Self: The importance of "keeping going" through shifting industry trends.
Episode Resources
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Risk Management: Brick by Brick