Fires, cyberattacks, industrial accidents and other internal or external crises: companies are constantly exposed to events that can disrupt their operations, sometimes severely.
So how do you prepare your teams and leaders for risks that haven’t happened yet? Many organisations struggle with these scenarios. Others have found the answer in simulation games designed to teach.
Arcane Experience shows you an effective way to put these challenges firmly on the corporate agenda.
Crisis simulation: essential, but tricky to run
A crisis is a risk, sometimes a major one, for every company, whatever its size or sector. Cyberattack, fire, contamination, industrial dispute: these exceptional events can quickly threaten business continuity and damage an organisation’s reputation, and of course its revenue
In the face of these risks, preparing in advance is crucial, through crisis management plans and the chance to rehearse them in full-scale simulations. Yet such exercises are difficult to set up, for several reasons.
First, it’s hard to mobilise and unite teams around a hypothetical event when day-to-day workloads are already heavy. Second, the realism of the scenarios is often limited by a lack of immersion, which robs the exercise of much of its value.
Above all, simulating a crisis, even a fictional one, always carries a reputational risk: information about the exercise is hard to contain, and there’s a fear of fuelling anxiety among employees or clients about certain risks.
As a result, many organisations are underprepared. Yet when properly planned, crisis simulations are a unique opportunity to stress-test teams and emergency plans, and to build the company’s overall resilience in the face of the unexpected.
What a crisis management simulation sets out to achieve
Crisis simulations may feel daunting for teams, but they bring real benefits to risk prevention. Used well, these scenarios allow you to:
Test your business continuity plan (BCP)
Every company should have a BCP, a practical playbook for keeping vital operations running during a crisis. The problem: this plan on paper rarely survives contact with reality when it has to be applied under pressure. Hence the importance of testing it at full scale through simulations, to identify weaknesses and potential breaking points.
Train your teams and your leadership
In exceptional situations, teams often lack the speed and coordination that only practice can build. Simulations let leaders and operational staff sharpen their decision-making under pressure and stress. They also encourage cross-department collaboration, which is essential in a real crisis.
Pinpoint your vulnerabilities
By putting processes, teams and infrastructure under pressure, simulations expose the weak links in the organisation: poorly defined procedures, under-resourced roles, unreliable IT systems. Every one of them can then be addressed.
The point isn’t to create anxiety, but to test the system in order to strengthen it, and that’s something Arcane Experience understands well. The next step is finding the right method to run these simulations.
The serious game: the ideal preparation tool
To run crisis simulations that are both realistic and constructive, we at Arcane Experience are convinced that the serious game is the ideal tool. Thanks to immersive technologies, it offers multiple advantages for raising awareness and training people to handle exceptional situations.
An immersive, engaging approach
A game creates a sense of presence and urgency far stronger than any paper-based simulation. By plunging participants into a plausible world that faithfully mirrors their working environment, it keeps them engaged and motivated from start to finish.
The freedom to test multiple scenarios
Thanks to in-depth work on your company’s needs, all kinds of scenarios can be simulated, each more extreme than the last: fires, attacks, cyberattacks, industrial disputes. You get to play with the worst in order to master it. The interactivity of the game also allows participants to try different strategies in a given crisis before debriefing on the best options. Another advantage: a game encourages cooperation to unlock certain situations, driving home the fact that in a crisis, working together is essential.
A risk-free environment you can repeat
The fictional yet plausible setting of a serious game also offers the advantage of a “sandbox” with no real danger. Participants can get it wrong, learn from their mistakes in complete safety and take the time to find the right responses.
These bespoke learning programmes are the very best way to prepare organisations for the crises they fear.
Arcane Experience, experts in bespoke simulation games
With several years’ experience designing immersive games built for learning, Arcane Experience is a partner of choice for companies running crisis management simulations. Our proven methodology and our expertise in communication and game design guarantee bespoke programmes that address your challenges.
A deep understanding of your business realities
Every organisation is unique, so our teams take the time upfront to understand your specific business challenges, your company culture and the main risks facing your business. This essential groundwork lets us propose scenarios and worlds that speak directly to our clients’ concerns.
Fully customised scenarios
Building on that analysis, our creatives design immersive worlds in your image, along with a bespoke plot and events. The aim is to guarantee authenticity and total immersion for your teams, and with it a simulation that genuinely delivers.
A genuine grasp of your company culture
Working closely with your teams throughout the project, we absorb your processes, your visual identity and your specific challenges to create a simulation that rings true. Once the programme is finalised, we can also roll the solution out with your teams on site for maximum impact.
The game surfaces the operational information needed to resolve the crises that may lie ahead. Participants understand their role and leave committed, knowing they have a real part to play.
Choose Arcane Experience and you get a simulation game that is genuinely useful and immersive, built on your own content, to prepare your employees for possible crises and get your company ready.
