Year after year, when asked to name the top lessons learned from contingency plan invocations, organizations consistently cite that they underestimated how difficult it would be to communicate effectively under duress. Conversations with organizations affected by Hurricane Sandy have proven this to be true once again. Because crisis and emergency communication is both highly critical and in dramatic need of improvement, Forrester believes that contingency planners in both the business and IT should single it out as a focus area for development. This report identifies best practices for crisis and emergency communication org structure, strategy development, technology adoption, testing, and training.