Business Continuity: Surviving a Multi-Declaration Disaster Scenario

According to a recent survey, insurance brokers Marsh & McLennan asked 100 British risk managers which areas of risk management were fundamental to their organisation. Almost three quarters of the survey group stated that business continuity management was their number one priority.

Planning for business continuity requires careful consideration of a range of potential risks to your business operations. Of increasing concern is a scenario where a disaster affects a number of organisations in the same office building, street, city block or even suburb. When it comes to disaster recovery, the concerns are diverse. CIOs say they still worry about the traditional problems, from those manual errors and little snafus that can crash a system to natural disasters like fire and flood. But they've also added new concerns that range from catastrophic power loss and network attacks to employee sabotage and terrorist attacks. (Computerworld, July 2005)

Previous articles in this series looked at the consequences of failing to plan for disaster recovery, and the key attributes of a disaster recovery service provider. In this article we look at how you can avoid being left out in the cold if your organisation and a number of your neighbours declare a disaster at the time.

What is a Multi-Declaration Disaster Scenario?

Dramatic events such as terrorism attacks, storms and earthquakes are often given as examples of multi-declaration disaster scenarios. However, lesser and more contained disaster scenarios also have the potential to affect the business continuity of multiple organisations. Examples of these events are denial of access, major telecommunications disruption or extended loss of power across the local grid. Any one of these could see you and neighbouring businesses declaring a disaster for anything from a few days to several weeks. And, if the affected location houses your core business systems, this will have repercussions on the operations of your entire branch network.

Will your business continuity service provider have the capacity to help you in such a scenario?

No Room at the Inn

Youve developed a business continuity plan which meets your corporate risk management strategy and your corporate governance requirements. Youve carefully selected a business continuity service provider with the appropriate disaster recovery facilities. The multi-subscriber server meets your specifications, and the recovery suite will house over 80 key staff at individual workstations which can be rapidly customised to your standard desktop operating environment. Even your inbound contact centre can be accommodated, to minimize customer inconvenience and lost revenues.

You have established telecommunications links between the business continuity provider and your national network. You regularly and successfully test your business continuity plan and feel confident your organisation will survive a disaster which destroys your computer systems and renders your head office premises uninhabitable.

So, when a violent storm sweeps through your suburb one night, damaging your roof and causing water damage to equipment and facilities which will take weeks to put right, your first thought is that your comprehensive business continuity plan was an excellent investment. Unfortunately, within a few hours you discover you were wrong. A multi-national organisation up the road has also suffered storm damage, and under a global agreement with the vendor providing your business continuity facilities, they have first call. There is no room at the inn for your business!

Business Continuity: Ability to Deliver

How can you mitigate the risk that a multi-declaration disaster will see your organisation without adequate support? There are no absolute guarantees that your business continuity service provider can meet your requirements in the case of a large-scale disaster. But in making your choice, you can investigate their existing commitments, as well as their policies for accepting business continuity contracts.

Ask about their methodologies for determining if they can accept new customers:

• Do they take location into account, to ensure they are not taking on more than theyll be able to deliver in the case of a multi-declaration disaster? For example, would they accept two organisations under a business continuity contract from the same city building?
• Do they provide potential customers with transparency regarding other subscribers in their local area or is there lack of disclosure, leaving subscribers owning the risk?
• Do they have strict ratios for the number of customers subscribed to a particular piece of equipment?
• Do they have multiple customer flight decks to cater for technical teams needing access for systems configuration?
• Do they have multiple business recovery centres in different locations to cope with overflow in a catastrophic situation?

The ability of your chosen business continuity service provider to deliver in the case of a multi-declaration disaster is a key factor in your decision-making process. This small but significant risk should be recognised and managed by ensuring your business continuity provider isnt over-committing resources to the point that theyre unable to support you when you most need them.

Clint Seagrave is Engineering Director of Interactive Pty Ltd, one of Australias leading providers of IT services. Established in 1988, and with a team of over 150 service staff supported by a network of thousands of highly trained support staff Interactive is the chosen supplier for critical hardware maintenance and disaster recovery services by 950+ corporations. Entirely focussed on systems availability, Interactive is 100% Australian-owned. http://www.interactive.com.au

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Camping Lessons Learned

Most of the time, camping is a relaxing experience easily enjoyed by all involved. When I met my husband, though, I will admit I was a camping virgin. The closest I had come was Girl Scout Day Camp in elementary school, and all I remember was being made to carry a cup on a string around my neck. Since then, thanks to Chris, I have become a little more accustomed to spending a night or two under the stars without my computer, a/c, or morning comic section from the newspaper. However, even experienced campers arrive home less than relaxed after certain trips.

Chris decided we should camp for the weekend not long ago. He had to work Friday, so we spend Saturday morning gathering supplies and packing clothing, tent, air mattress, doggy camping supplies for our two furry children, etc. We had scouted out state parks in our area and finally set out around 1 p.m. in an SUV brimming with dogs and stuff. Upon arriving at our destination (with no alternative plans), we were told by the oh-so-cheerful park ranger that the park is full.

We ended up at a local river outfitter, who, thankfully, was willing to take our two very large lab mixes along with our camping fees. We chose our campsite and commenced tent pitching. One hour and four heated "discussions" later, we had the tent up, but the rain fly was stubbornly uncooperative. After another thirty minutes, we finally figured the rain fly was good enough--after all, forecasted rain chances were low.

Later that evening, after taking the pups swimming in the river, the (pterodactyl-sized) mosquitoes were out in full force--yes, even mosquitoes are bigger in Texas--and a thunderstorm started to roll in. By the time I convinced my husband to head for the tent (with two soaking wet dogs in tow), the drops started to fall. Had it only been a brief, light shower, we probably would have been fine; however, an hour long steady rain left us apprehensively watching water roll down the insides of tent walls and staring at each other through a fine mist that was slowly engulfing the interior of the tent and blanketing our stuff in a layer of moisture.

The night passed eventfully. Following the storm, the humidity rose to approximately 200% and some campers by the river decided midnight was the perfect time to set off fireworks. It was this moment when I decided our "fierce furry protectors" have courage levels inversely proportional to their sizes, for my husband and I spend the next hour trying to keep our fairly dry air mattress from becoming soaked by wet dog. I wasn't so successful and ended up sharing part of my side with the larger (and therefore most fearful) and wetter of the two.

Morning came and brought with it a breakfast of cold toaster pastries and water. Without hesitation, we packed up and headed for home. While my husband drove, I contemplated something my grandmother used to say--"nothing ventured, nothing gained"--that seemed to fit.

Well, here are a few lessons that I gained:

Lesson #1: Always check to make sure your chosen destination has room for you BEFORE you leave, and always have a plan B. Also, ask if plans A and B can include pets.

Lesson #2: Make a "dry run" with your tent. Be sure you have all the parts and are comfortable with the directions. Also be sure to pack a hammer and sturdy tent spikes--the ones that come with your tent may not be suitable for the ground you choose.

Lesson #3: Don't ever "figure" the rain fly is "good enough", and be sure all seams on your tent are waterproof. (You can test this during the dry run with a water hose.) A good water seal for can be found at most camping supply stores

Lesson #4: Bug spray. Lots of bug spray. Look for a type that leaves behind little residue so it's not as gross to wear.

Lesson #5: Consider a screened enclosure if you don't like bug spray.

Lesson #6: Travel with your own camp soap and toilet paper.

This just proves that you dont have to be a newbie to make mistakes. So, stay dry and happy camping.

Now, where's that anti-itch stuff

Marie Graham lives in central Texas and writes occasional articles for CG Camping

On her spare time, she teaches high school math and enjoys her two furry, four-legged children.

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