About Paul O'Brien
Paul O'Brien works as a Corporate Resilience Manager, helping organisations build operational resilience, manage risk, and prepare for critical disruptions. He is currently documenting his journey as he builds towards formal industry certifications, including the CBCI and beyond.
Underneath the risk matrices and Business Impact Analyses, his technical roots run deep.
For over 25 years, Paul has maintained a persistent fascination with email, DNS, and the quiet digital infrastructure that underpins modern work. He has analysed email infrastructure from every angle: engineering it into products as a developer, untangling authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), navigating deliverability, and managing provider trade-offs.
The Intersection of Two Worlds
Business Continuity and core internet protocols are two sides of the same coin: Operational Resilience.
- The Professional Focus: Business Continuity is about keeping operations moving when things go wrong—identifying dependencies, establishing recovery strategies, and embedding a culture of preparedness.
- The Technical Reality: Core protocols are ultimate single points of failure. If your domain authentication breaks, your DNS fails, or your primary mail provider suffers an outage, your continuity plan is tested instantly.
Paul doesn't believe email is boring; he considers it underrated infrastructure. When it works, it’s invisible. When it fails, it fails quietly—and usually at the worst possible moment.
What You’ll Find Here
Insights is an independent publication where Paul documents research, hands-on tests, and analysis across three core areas:
- 🛡️ Corporate Resilience & BC: Notes on the BCI Good Practice Guidelines (GPG 7.0), CBCI preparation, BIA methodologies, and practical crisis response.
- ⚙️ Core Internet Technology: Independent reviews of email providers, privacy-first tools, DNS architectures, and deliverability mechanics.
- ⚡ The Intersection: Exploring where formal continuity planning meets the practical realities of modern digital systems.
Paul works independently and buys his own tools. His goal isn't to push software, but to bring clarity to digital systems—so you understand how things really work before an outage forces the issue.
Get in Touch
Have a question about a write-up, feedback, or a topic suggestion?
Feel free to drop a line via the Contact Page
Disclaimer: All views expressed on this site are Paul's own and do not represent the official policy or position of his employer.