About us
The company
From its foundation in 2002 until the end of 2017 VERISMO GmbH was an independent consulting company with a focus on holistic Security, Risk, Emergency, Business Continuity and Crisis Management based in Küsnacht / Zurich, Switzerland. Since January 1st 2018 it has been a subsidiary of Continis AG based in Zurich. With the merger, we combine our many years of consulting experience with solid technical understanding and are thus also continuously working on the further development of innovative software tools.
The combination of traditional Security- and Risk Management expertise with state-of-the-art IT knowledge forms the basis for the development of consulting products that meet the current challenges of our clients.
It is our mission to support our customers through consulting, training and software tools to protect their business, prevent crises and, if they do occur, to survive them as unscathed as possible.
Verismo – to keep your company running.
Our experts
Our Management Team
Dr. jur. Klaus Bockslaff LL.M.
Managing Director Verismo GmbH
Klaus Bockslaff works as a management consultant and management coach. His focus is on the establishment of integrated Management Systems in the fields of holistic Risk, Continuity, Emergency, Security and Crisis Management. He can draw on many years of experience in leading positions in the insurance industry as well as his work as senior manager at one of the top 5 auditing companies. With the consulting company Verismo, which he founded in 2002, he has implemented numerous projects and published articles on the above-mentioned topics. As a “designated expert”, he participates as a representative of SNV in the ISO negotiations on the new crisis management standard ISO 22361. He also chairs the RMA’s crisis management working group.
Dr. sc. techn. Dipl.-Ing. ETH Mathias Götsch
Managing Director Verismo GmbH
Volker Hofmann
Management Consultant Verismo GmbH
As a management consultant at Verismo GmbH, Volker Hofmann is responsible for Business Continuity Management. Volker Hofmann has been working for over 20 years in the areas of BCM and ITSCM as a consultant and project manager. He acquired his practically oriented knowledge as a responsible employee in the Managed Services division of one of the large US IT companies, and since 2003 as an independent consultant for BCM and ITSCM concepts.
Peter Markovitz
Senior Consultant Verismo GmbH
Peter Markovitz is a senior consultant at Verismo GmbH and is responsible for the product management of the crisis management tool DEMiOS. Peter Markovitz previously served as a site manager responsible for manufacturing personal and facility protection systems. In this security-oriented environment, his responsibilities included local Emergency and Crisis Management. Other focal points of activity were the areas of continuity and quality management and the control of production at the site.
Silke Terjung
Assistant to the Management
Silke Terjung joined Verismo GmbH in 2008 as assistant to the Management and is responsible for all administrative aspects of the company. As a trained hotel management assistant, she has many years of professional experience in the areas of HR, finance and controlling, including at one of the top 5 WP companies. She is an expert and direct contact person for the seminar and training program of the Verismo Academy. Ms Terjung is also involved as an independent life and organisational consultant. She speaks German, English and French.
Rainer Siebert
Senior Consultant Verismo GmbH
Rainer Siebert is a senior consultant at Verismo GmbH and is responsible for the topics of holistic security management and the focus on information security as a consultant and lecturer.
Rainer Siebert has 20 years of experience as Head of Corporate Security, CISO and Head of Crisis Management at a major German bank. In this function, he also integrated the topics of data protection and business continuity management, among others. Rainer Siebert is active as a lecturer at German universities and as a lecturer, in particular for BSI Grundschutz.
Dr. Martin Schnauber
Senior Consultant Verismo GmbH
Dr. Martin Schnauber is a senior consultant at Verismo GmbH. He is responsible for the topics of emergency and crisis management as a consultant and lecturer in seminars and training courses.
Dr. rer. nat. Dipl.-Chem. Martin Schnauber brings 15 years of practical professional experience as a full-time emergency manager in a large industrial park with 90 companies and 22,000 employees in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. His primary field of activity was emergency and crisis management during loss events as well as the prevention of emergencies. He was responsible for optimizing the emergency organization of the entire industrial park. In addition, he supported companies in the pharmaceutical, chemical, metal, automotive, logistics and steel industries in the creation and implementation as well as training of emergency and crisis management systems.
Dr. phil. Stefan Röhrbein
Senior Consultant Verismo GmbH
Interview with Manfred Jilg, Deputy Safety Manager, BASF SE
You are the Deputy Safety Manager at BASF, one of the largest chemical companies in the world, and have been a customer, partner and friend of Verismo GmbH for many years. You yourself have attended various Verismo Academy seminars. How could you apply what you had learned in your daily work? Would you recommend these seminars to others? Why?
The seminars of Verismo GmbH are characterized by a great practical relevance. Contents, processes and trained procedures can thus be directly applied in practice. I would definitely recommend the seminars, which I have experienced myself, because in addition to the application-oriented theory training, many transfer services for practice are shown.
In our seminars and software tools we focus on the basic methodology of staff work. Over the years you have also been a member of numerous crisis teams. Do you believe that such a method-oriented approach has a positive influence on the work of the crisis team?
I can confirm this in any case. A structured approach even in challenging situations, supported by prepared processes and appropriate IT tools, are critical success factors for the work of the crisis teams.
We are currently developing a new, optimized version of DEMiOS, a software tool that supports crisis teams in their work. BASF is a group that operates at many sites around the world. Can you imagine that in the future, virtual work in the crisis teams of global corporations could be simplified using such a tool?
We already have a communication tool in use today that offers demonstrable transparency regarding decisions, orders placed and their implementation in various working groups simultaneously. Such tools provide good support for the virtual processes in crisis teams. However, they cannot replace practical training for the entire crisis team.
In your presentation at the Verismo expert panel in June 2019, you described the new challenges of Information and IT security very impressively. As a recent case from southern Germany shows, these challenges are very close to reality. Do you think that especially smaller companies underestimate this danger? Do you consider ISO 27001 certification to be useful for smaller companies as well?
First of all, I note that although SMEs in particular have the challenges on their radar, they are not in a position to meet all challenges for reasons of resources alone. This requires the most objective possible advice from experts. I would at least like to question whether certification according to ISO 27001 is the panacea. In any case, the standard provides a structured approach and processing instructions for the topic.
How have you experienced working with Verismo over the last few years?
I have enjoyed the trusting and professional cooperation in the past. In particular, the exchange with other companies in the expert meetings opened up new perspectives and also provided approaches to solutions.
Our team of consultants works together with strong cooperation partners in various areas.