Definitions

Tip

This guide presumes that your organization has a technical incident response plan already in place. The functions and roles described in this guide build on those already introduced when managing technical incident response. While this guide can be used independently, it is helpful to have familiarity with those concepts before proceeding.

Internal Stakeholder Communications#

This term is used to encompass the communications and notifications sent only to your internal teams that provide proactive updates regarding the status of major incidents. Having a well-defined internal communications process during an incident can benefit your organization in numerous ways by providing: 1. A more consistent understanding of the current incident across the organization 1. Broader real-time awareness of incident impact 1. More consistent incident narratives to share externally

The Internal Liaison#

The Internal Liaison is the person responsible for managing internal stakeholder communication. Sometimes the responsibilities of the Internal Liaison get merged with those of a Customer Liaison and the duties are collectively referred to as a “Communications Liaison.” In either case, this guide applies to the duties of generating internal stakeholder communications during a major incident and labels that role as the Internal Liaison.