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Frequently Asked
Questions
1. What is the purpose of SISBO?
2. Is SISBO a Government organisation
or a commercial one?
3. Is SISBO's output classified?
4. Where does SISBO get its information?
5. Where is SISBO based?
6. What are the backgrounds of its staff?
7. How does SISBO fit in with UK Trade
& Investment (UKTI)?
8. Who pays for SISBO?
9. Will SISBO give travel advice, as the
FCO already does?
10. What links does SISBO have to similar
bodies such as OSAC?
11. Is SISBO geared mainly towards multinationals
or towards SMEs?
12. Will SISBO replace Commercial Sections
of Embassies abroad?
13. Isn't SISBO duplicating the work of
consulting companies?
14. Is SISBO mainly about terrorism?
15. My company is not UK-owned; can I
use SISBO?
1. What is the purpose
of SISBO? SISBO's purpose is to pool the experience
and understanding of foreign countries which UK companies
and the Government have, and to make it freely available among
them.
2. Is SISBO a Government
organisation or a commercial one? Neither. SISBO works
very closely with the Foreign Office but is not part of it.
It is run as a non-profit-making body, and any surplus funds
are re-invested to fund future services. This might include
hiring more staff, or putting on a conference or seminar.
SISBO is overseen by a Board consisting of senior figures from
the CBI, the London Chamber of Commerce and large
companies, as well as two officials. It is co-chaired by a
business and a Government representative.
3. Is SISBO's output
classified? No.
4. Where does SISBO
get its information? SISBO draws on existing information
already available within Government, from academia and from
companies themselves.
5. Where is SISBO
based? Our offices are in the headquarters of the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office in central London.
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6. What are the backgrounds
of SISBO staff? They are independent consultants from
the private sector, some of whom have a previous background in
Government. The FCO provides important support facilities but no
full-time SISBO staff.
7. How does SISBO
relate to UK Trade & Investment (UKTI)? UKTI is
the Government organisation that promotes international trade.
Many SISBO Co-ordinators in Embassies and High Commissions are UKTI
officials, but UKTI is essentially tactical in scope, while SISBO
produces strategic insights targeted at Board-level readers. SISBO
is also non-competitive, whereas UKTI can be tasked to produce
customer-specific market reports as part of the fee-based Overseas
Markets Information Service (OMIS).
8. Who pays for SISBO?
The basic service was set up thanks to voluntary contributions from certain CBI
members, and the FCO provides support facilities. The SISBO Plus service was
originally subscription-based, but is now free for the foreseeable future thanks to
Government funding. Although SisboPlus creates a two-tier service, no company
will be denied access to Embassies or to the services currently available
through the UK Government and its Ministries. SISBO remains a not-for-profit body.
9. Will SISBO give
travel advice, as the FCO already does? No. SISBO may
amplify the FCO's official Travel Advice with information designed
to meet the needs of the overseas business sector, but the FCO remains
the 'gold standard'. It is inconceivable that SISBO's understanding
of the nature or severity of a threat to UK interests overseas would
differ from the FCO's Travel Advice.
10. What links does
SISBO have to similar bodies such as OSAC? The US's
Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) has a broadly similar
aim to SISBO, though with more of a focus on physical security. SISBO
and OSAC have close links and work hard to complement each other
without duplicating effort. SISBO is also proud to be a 'Government
Associate Member' of the International Security Management Association
(ISMA), whose membership is drawn from the top security professionals
of the world's largest companies.
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11. Does SISBO target
mainly multinationals, or SMEs? Both, though at present
SMEs, assuming they start from a low base of experience about
foreign countries, will gain the more advantage. As SISBO
expands, its value to larger companies will increase. The SISBO Plus
service will probably be of greater use to companies with a larger
overseas footprint.
12. Will SISBO replace
Commercial Sections of Embassies abroad? No. We support
their work, by promoting their capabilities to companies and ensuring
that, thanks to our briefing, companies have a good basic understanding
of the relevant country even before they see the Embassy.
13. Isn't SISBO duplicating
the work of consulting companies? No, as our information
is generic. If you want information which you would not wish
your competitors to have, you will need to go elsewhere -
and pay for it! For a list of UK-linked companies which may be able
to provide detailed help, click here.
14. Is SISBO mainly
about terrorism? No. We interpret the word "security"
broadly; terrorism is a relatively minor part. We consider
political stability, economic performance, infrastructure
(e.g. transport, telecoms), corruption, business continuity
planning, crime, civil disorder, intellectual property theft
- in fact, anything that might threaten the ability of UK
businesses to operate effectively abroad.
15. My company is
not UK-owned; can I use SISBO? If your company is registered
at Companies House or has significant numbers of employees
in the UK, or if in some other way it benefits the UK, it
can use SISBO's services. If in doubt, contact
us.
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