Movers & Shakers: Ryan Falcone

A look at the people behind the numbers in area business:

Title: Director of resiliency solutions

Age: 42

Risk management veteran Ryan Falcone is helping companies secure their technology and operating facilities after his promotion to director of resiliency solutions at Minneapolis-based N'compass Solutions.

Falcone's promotion comes as the information technology strategy firm launches a resiliency solutions practice to work with both public and private organizations to identify risks and build strategies to address disaster recovery and compliance concerns — known in the trade as "resiliency.''

Falcone, a senior strategic consultant at N'compass since 2010, has more than a decade of experience in business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR). One focus of the firm is helping companies realize strategic value from their business continuity and disaster recovery efforts, rather than simply meet regulatory or customer requirements.

"Instead of turning it into compliance hoops that people have to jump through … we believe it's good business practice to do things the right way and not just to create busy work," he said.

Falcone has an MBA from Le Moyne College and master's degrees from the Rochester Institute of Technology and Case Western Reserve University.

N'compass clients range from midsize to Fortune 500 companies and include large nonprofits, government agencies and educational institutions.

Q: How should companies think about business continuity and disaster recovery?

A: Many companies approach [them] as an unnecessary insurance policy that they hope to never use, and invest minimally. Through the application of new approaches and cutting-edge analytics, we're working hard to change that perception.

Q: How can your resiliency practice help companies prepare?

Q: What's the difference between the business resiliency practice at N'compass and what competitors offer?

A: Our approach is interdisciplinary, and our consultants bring diversified industry and strategic acumen to the projects we work on. But the main point of differentiation is that the service offerings of our main competitors focus primarily on compliance. Compliance is important, but only gets you so far. Our approach shatters that artificial ceiling and helps clients drive risk management to the next level.