Ready for anything

Floods, the Glasgow airport fire and foot and mouth disease all graphically demonstrated the importance of disaster recovery planning this summer. Yet many companies, especially SMEs, have no business continuity plans in place, arguing either that they do not need them or that they are expensive and complex. In reality, SMEs are at greater risk than big business, since the size and resources of large companies usually make them relatively resilient to unexpected shocks.

Moreover, drawing up a business continuity plan is not expensive and takes just a few hours management time. Tonyrefail based insurance broker DS Howell drafted its disaster recovery plan two years ago to comply with Financial Service Authority regulations. Although just seven sides of A4, the plan means the company is ready for flood, fire, earthquake or any other calamity, says operations manager Paul Norman. “It’s worth having your own business continuity plan so you know what to do, where to go and who to ring as soon as any event happens.”

For small organisations a business continuity plan does not need to be complicated. Too often, though, those SMEs who do have business continuity plans try to prepare for specific events such as fire or flood. This leaves them unprepared for events such as an accidental workplace death or a product recall, which can be just as damaging.

Instead of thinking about specific events, companies should plan for the essentials they need to have in place to carry on their business. As a rule, that means people, premises, data and communication. “It’s not rocket science. If you can run a business, you can definitely develop a business continuity plan,” says Russell Price, chairman of the Continuity Forum, a non-governmental organisation providing information on business continuity management.

Until recently, Price says many companies spent a disproportionate amount of time protecting their financial records to the detriment of their people, their communications and other key aspects of the business.

In his view, the first priority is to have a communications strategy in place and make sure that managers have ready access – at home or on a laptop for example – to up to date staff contact lists. All too often when disaster strikes managers cannot even phone staff because their contact deals are kept in premises closed due to fire, flood or some other event such as a crime.

Within the communications strategy, it is also vital to reassure suppliers, customers – and probably the media -- that you are taking action to restore normal service. Bill Jenkins, chief executive of Tongwynlais based PR company Quadrant, says companies may make a good start tackling the crisis, but adds that often “they don’t communicate to anyone that they are doing so. Therefore the perception is that they are not handling it well. Their customers aren’t sure whether orders will be completed, so they place orders elsewhere and the collapse continues.”

Having contingencies in place for alternative premises is another crucial aspect of business continuity planning. DS Howell has identified two sites, one on the same trading estate as its office, the other further away in case its first choice is affected too. It has also arranged with its suppliers to have all computers replaced within 24 hours of a disaster.

Having that second back-up location is a good idea, says Price, but urges employers to ensure that staff will be able to commute there on a daily basis. One option for some SMEs is to consider entering into reciprocal agreements about premises with other companies in their sector. “Some things need to be worked through and there’s an element of good faith. But we’ve seen this work very well.”

Electronic data is the lifeblood of most companies nowadays, so IT back-up is essential too. However, finding the appropriate solution and making sure it works is not always easy. Roger Harry, managing director of Circle IT warns that many companies who rely on tape back-ups “don’t really know if anything is happening because they’re not doing any testing to make sure that their data will come back.”

For clients with no back-up or looking to upgrade, he recommends moving to an online system. Circle IT offers clients virtual systems kept in its Cardiff Gate office, allowing remote access if premises are destroyed or inaccessible. Harry says online systems are simpler and easier to use than tape back-up, guarantee that data is stored offsite and involve no management.

Online back-up is scalable and therefore suitable for small businesses needing just one or two servers right up to those using 20 or 30. “In the event of a disaster we keep clones of their servers and we’ll bring their data back online so they can be up and running either from home or we’ll take a server to a new office,” he says.

Using a data warehouse service like this is one of the most cost effective solutions for backing up information and IT systems. Price advises looking at such straightforward options before considering more complex solutions, which cost more and can distract management from dealing with some of the more basic aspects of disaster recovery.

His key messages on all aspects of business contuinuity planning are: keep it simple and take time to think about the critical issues for your organisation. “There’s a danger of people over complicating things. You can have complex solutions, but the first thing is actually to think. You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to be capable.”

In terms of thinking time, Jenkins recommends setting aside a quiet Friday afternoon to draft a communication and recovery plan: “You write the plan, put it on a shelf and hope you never use it.” Sadly, in his experience many organisations do not give any thought to business continuity planning until disaster strikes. By then of course, it is often too late.

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© John Sanders, August 2007

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