Disaster Recovery - Business Continuity & External Stakeholders
By Dave Guerra
The need to have a Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plan grows everyday. This is especially so when the calendar approaches June 1st, the first day of the North Atlantic Hurricane Season which runs until November 30. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that in those six months you and your organization better bring your A-game. Once the season starts there is nothing anyone can do to make it stop or go away any faster. Your A-game should be based on a top-notch, well planned, and easily executed DR/BC plan.
Something to remember every great plan is as good as its execution and every great plan that is executed is as good as the people who are executing it. Once it is being executed, the plan's objective is to do what is necessary to keep the business functional before, during, and after a natural or man-made disaster.
As with all plans, a component or several components that call on products, information or services from external sources, typically your organization's external stakeholders, should be included. These external stakeholders range from existing customers/clients, vendors, contractors, and suppliers. Additionally, other external sources may be called upon to deliver a specific product or service, which may not be used any other time throughout the year.
Therefore, it is advisable that you and your organization, when building the DR/BC plan dedicate resources towards taking the initiative and start a conversation with external stakeholders. The objective of the conversation between your organization and the individual external stakeholder is to get involved with the external organization and their disaster recovery planning process, almost to the point that your organization and their organization's disaster recovery plan will create areas of overlap. This is not to say you are going to dictate how the external organization is going to create their plan but to know how planning your plan's objectives will fit in with what their capabilities are during the execution of their DR/BC plan.
For example, your organization will need time sensitive supplies delivered immediately after the hurricane has cleared the area. It would be critical to know where in the supplier's disaster recovery plan the earliest possible delivery of product can be initiated. If time to delivery is longer than your plan anticipates then this is the time to begin negotiations on how the time can be shortened.
Of course, this also applies to supplies that are not time sensitive but are necessary to get your business up and running as soon as possible. Whether it is the guy who is going to stock the soda machine or the copier company and when it can replenish toner, it does not matter who but what does matter is what and when.
This is when starting and maintaining a dialogue with those external stakeholders is critical. As the needs of yours and their organization changes having this part of that the DR/BC plan under control is vital especially when it is time to get started after the disaster is over.
When beginning the dialog with an external stakeholder be clear and hold nothing back so that the external organization will know exactly what you want, when you want it, and how much you want. They in turn should be able to accommodate you accordingly. If they cannot then you might want to question why they can't and be prepared to look someplace else for someone who can accommodate you and your organization. This is not to say that because they cannot accommodate you in a time of need you should throw away a 10- or 20-year relationship but make it clear that in order to ramp up your business you will do what it takes. If the organization still cannot deliver then ask nicely for them to recommend an organization that can provide the immediate service.
However, let us not dwell on the negative but think positively. Both organizations have started the dialogue and are now at a point that the memorandum of understanding or letter of intent can be signed and made part of both organizations' disaster recovery and business continuity plan. At this point, your organization can begin to schedule periodic "update" meetings.
The periodic meetings are simply to address changes in operations, management, price, or anything else that has changed since the last meeting. Ideally, there should be no less than one meeting a month and can be done via voice, video, or face-to-face. Meeting this way, rather than by e-mail will minimize any confusion that reading only an e-mail without any follow up may create, but after those voice, video or face-to-face meeting do following up with an e-mail.
When a natural disaster is on horizon and approaching it is best to have one final meeting to advise all concerned that the plan is being initiated. If only one of the two organizations is initiating the plan then at this time the method to communicate when the other has initiated their plan should be decided. This should be left up to those that are communicating with each other to figure out, as they would know what is best for their unique situation.
Having such information handy will go far towards building the DR/BC plan that is realistic and achievable. Therefore, the sharing of information is always a win-win for all concerned. Your organization now knows what the external stakeholders are capable of and your external stakeholders know that they can count on your organization to be ready to accept their product or service.
Your customers/clients are unique in that addressing their needs is most important of all. They are what keep you, your suppliers, and vendors in business. While you cannot individually address the specific needs of each, you can ensure that your customers and clients have the means to stay in contact with you or your organization. Using tools such as email, text messaging, and your corporate website to keep everyone informed especially with things like how to prepare for an interruption in supply or when the doors of the business will re-open. Keep everyone informed.
In a perfect world there would be no need for a DR/BC plan as there would be no natural or man-made disasters. Seeing as how we do not live or work in a perfect world the need for a DR/BC plan will always be present. Therefore, in order to keep your organization up and running it is vital to have a disaster recovery and business continuity plan that solicits help and cooperation not just from within the organization but from external stakeholders as well. Communicating with the internal and external stakeholders will not only ensure a successful plan but keeps your doors open for business long after the disaster has come and gone.
© 2009 David Guerra
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