Posted by Matt Spada on Fri, Jun 04, 2010
As part of our comprehensive disaster recovery planning services, Agility Recovery Solutions sends out a free weekly tip through email. If you would like to receive these tips, please sign up here.
Week 5: Strengthen your plan via testing.
Testing annually is the crux to creating and preserving a viable recovery plan. Test every aspect of your recovery plan, from internal and external communications to regaining power to rebuilding networks. Take the insight gained during this exercise to make your plan stronger, so that when an event does occur your business will recover smoothly and as efficiently as possible.
Week 6: Ease into testing.
When testing your recovery plan for the first time, simplicity is key. Build out an annual testing strategy and gradually add layers of complexity to your test program each year.
Start by reviewing your written recovery plan with leaders within your company. Walk through a mock disaster scenario and review the responsibilities of key personnel. Once you've established a comfort level, then move on to testing technology, server recovery, and communications.
Week 7: Lay your cards on the table.
Every test of your recovery plan is a chance to improve it. For your first test, you can find great value in a "Tabletop Exercise." This usually consists of a day-long meeting with the employees that make up your disaster recovery team. The goal is to simulate each of the steps taken during a recovery in order to test the plan, identify shortcomings, and help employees practice their recovery responsibilities.
A tabletop test can be a great way to test your plan without any cost at all. Once your team is confident in their responsibilities and your plan, you can begin adding hands-on elements to your tests.
Week 8: Don't be Afraid to Fail.
It's a common misconception that your continuity plan can fail a test exercise, when in reality the only failed test is the one you don't perform. A test exercise is a great way to validate the strengths and expose the weaknesses of your plan while providing valuable practice for employees to prepare for a real recovery. Remind your management team early and often that a test exercise is meant to find "failures" now, so they become "successes" during a recovery.
If you have additional questions or would like to talk with a recovery professional about your business continuity needs visit www.agilityrecovery.com or call 866-364-9696.
Posted by Matt Spada on Thu, May 13, 2010
As part of our comprehensive disaster recovery planning services, Agility Recovery Solutions sends out a free weekly tip through email. If you would like to receive these tips, please sign up here.
Week 1: Keep it simple.
Be realistic about who and what you will need during a recovery. There is no sense in trying to bring everyone back to work and have all systems back up if you can survive on less; especially in a short-term recovery. Identify your critical people, teams and define your business critical systems. These should be the focus and your top priority in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Keep it simple. Simple works.
Week 2: Think about relationships.
Operations and supply chains are reliant upon external relationships, particularly if you're a small or mid sized business. Take an active interest in the disaster recovery plans of your vendors and partners to ensure your business will not be effected if a supplier suffers a disaster or interruption. If your vendors fail, it increases the chance your business will also fail during a recovery situation. You're only as strong as your weakest link.
Week 3: Plan ahead for evacuation.
Businesses located in disaster prone areas (such as hurricane, tornado, ice storm and earthquake zones) should develop an evacuation plan directing employees to a safe and pre-established area, and then recover business operations in the same location. You will have employees on-hand to begin working again, rather than spending days or weeks trying to locate them.For more information on creating your evacuation plan, visit Ready.gov.
Week 4: Know your generator needs.
"If the power goes out, we'll get a generator." It sounds so simple, but it's never as simple as it seems.Like most things, preparation is the key. Where will you place a generator? Do you need permission from your landlord or building management company to run cables through the building? What are the specifications of your electrical circuit - volts, amps, phase?
If you have additional questions or would like to talk with a recovery professional about your business continuity needs visit www.agilityrecovery.com or call 866-364-9696.
Posted by Mark Norton on Wed, May 05, 2010
While continuing to follow the latest updates to the BP / Gulf Coast oil spill (that has claimed 11 lives and now threatens hundreds of species of wildlife along the Gulf shores, and which in 35 days is projected to be larger than the Exxon Valdez) I grew sad to learn of the underlying problem complicating this huge catastrophe that has transformed the Gulf Coast in just a few days - failure to plan.
On Saturday, May 1st, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, was still waiting for a plan from BP on how to protect the state's coast from the massive oil spill. Nine days had already passed. Over 600 National Guard soldiers were on duty to help contain the spill with another 1,000 on standby; however no one had received any marching orders. Meanwhile the oil slick continues to expand from roughly the size of Rhode Island to something closer to the size of Puerto Rico, populating the normally blue-green gulf waters with sticky, pea- to quarter-sized brown beads of oil.
The reason they are waiting is because there was never a plan. BP had no plan for a major oil spill because in 2009 the company determined it was unlikely, or virtually impossible, for an accident to occur that would lead to a giant crude oil spill and serious danger to wildlife. BP Spokesperson David Nicholas stated, "The sort of occurrence that we've seen on the Deepwater Horizon is clearly unprecedented." While I agree this event is unprecedented, I challenge their thinking that such an event was virtually impossible. Since BP did not plan adequately for a worst-case scenario, they also failed to address the kind of technology needed to control a spill at that depth of water. And so we wait...we wait for one to be developed for an event that has already happened - one whose effects are being compared to those of a Category 5 hurricane.
The results of BP's planning failure will undoubtedly have an impact on most of us. However, my hope is that we use this disaster as a reminder to the rest of us - to plan for our worst-case scenario, no matter how unlikely. I encourage everyone to take a second or third (or first!) look into your disaster recovery plans and determine if the preparation we rely on is fit to handle that virtually impossible occurrence. The historic satellite image of the oil spill on the Gulf will always serve as a reminder for me that worst-case disasters do happen and we all need to have a plan.
- Mark Norton
Associate Continuity Planner
Agility Recovery Solutions
Agility Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Solutions
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Posted by Matt Spada on Wed, Apr 07, 2010
Over the past two weeks Agility has responded to fifteen different Members whose businesses were significantly interrupted due to flooding.
Floods are one of the most common and widespread of all disasters, and continue to grow in frequency and severity. Businesses are more likely to flood than burn down, so it is vital to prepare now.
Spring is the perfect time to evaluate your preparedness in the event of a flood, and with hurricane season around the corner, think about how your business could be affected.
Helping to Mitigate your Risk for Flood Interruption:
Do You Know the Terms?
- Flood Watch:
Flooding is possible. Tune in to NOAA Weather Radio, commercial radio, or television for information.
- Flash Flood Watch:
Flash flooding is possible. Be prepared to move to higher ground; listen to NOAA Weather Radio, commercial radio, or television for information.
- Flood Warning:
Flooding is occurring or will occur soon; if advised to evacuate, do so immediately.
- Flash Flood Warning:
A flash flood is occurring; seek higher ground on foot immediately.
Driving Flood Facts
The following are important points to remember when driving in flood conditions:
- Six inches of water will reach the bottom of most passenger cars causing loss of control and possible stalling.
- A foot of water will float many vehicles.
- Two feet of rushing water can carry away most vehicles including sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and pick-ups.
Most businesses can save between 20% and 90% on the cost of stock and movable equipment by taking action to prepare in advance of flooding. Agility's Flood Preperation Checklist can help mitigate your risk and protect not only your business, but also the most critical element of your business - your people.
Agility is your trusted advisor through any interruption and your partner in preparedness. Please contact us at 866.364.9696 for more information on how we can meet your disaster recovery needs.
Posted by Matt Spada on Wed, Feb 10, 2010
In my daily experience speaking to businesses of all types, I must commend the organizations I come across that have taken the initiative to put a Disaster Recovery Plan in place. It's a clear indication that they have tried to plan for both the expected and unexpected events that may impact their day-to-day operations.
Unfortunately, the fact remains that the majority of businesses have never tested their recovery plan. How can you be secure in your organization's ability to function as expected during an actual crisis without first putting it to the test?
Perhaps the word ‘test' attaches a ‘pass/fail' criterion and should instead be looked at as more of a practice or drill. Most businesses who have been through a testing of their recovery plan will tell you that there is no such thing as a ‘failed' test. These exercises are designed to bring certain realities to the surface that may not have been thought about without going through a dry-run. I can certainly understand the satisfaction of being able to put a checkmark in the ‘DR Plan' box and moving along with the rest of the day's agenda, but without actually testing the validity of your plan, you can never be certain it will work when needed.
Testing may seem to be a monumental task. At Agility Recovery, we encourage our members to test annually - ensuring their plan stays current, well documented and effective. With staff dedicated solely to assisting members with these needs, we are constantly striving for ways to encourage businesses to test their continuity initiatives. Testing should be a vital component of your continuity plan, not an afterthought.
Where we would be without wedding rehearsals, spring training and fire drills? I think it's difficult to argue the tried and true saying, "practice makes perfect". Just ask Drew Brees...
To learn more about the importance of testing as well as some best practices for getting started, register for our upcoming educational Webinar on February 24th at 2pm EST, "Put your Recovery Plan in Motion – Test it Today!" If you have any questions or would like to speak to an Agility Representative about testing, please contact us at 877.364.9393 or via email.
- Matt Spada
Agility Recovery Solutions
Agility Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Solutions
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Posted by Matt Spada on Wed, Feb 03, 2010
From WashingtonPost.com:
On Leadership: FEMA head Craig Fugate on "thunderbolt" drills, tolerating failure and why government is not the solution to most disasters. (Video by Elizabeth Tenety, Vanessa Mizell and Andrea Useem.)
Posted by Ben Pritchard on Fri, Jan 22, 2010
While some of us are not sales professionals per se, we sell every day in one way or another. We "sell" our spouses on buying the cable subscription for Monday Night Football and our children on completing their homework or going to bed on time (actually, "bribe" may be a better word...). We sell our friends on checking out a new hotspot and we try to sell our bosses on the idea of a raise (note to my boss - you know who you are).
Given that, in our own way, we are all experienced sales people, why do we have trouble selling the concept of business continuity and disaster recovery planning
to business management? The only answer I can come up with is that we assume they
don't believe it's a necessity and/or they don't believe they will ever face a disaster.
Just a few minutes of research on websites such as FEMA, KPMG, EMC2, Disaster Recovery Journal or our very own Agility Recovery Solutions reveal all sorts of thought provoking information. With that in mind, here are some statistics that should scare any sane business owner/board member and aid you in your mission to sell a concept which, strictly speaking, should sell itself:
- 43% of businesses that experience a disaster never re-open. Source: US Department of Labor
- 29% of businesses that experience a disaster will re-open, but never fully recover and will close their doors for good within 2 years. Source: The Hartford's Guide to Emergency Preparedness Planning published by The Hartford Financial Services Group
- 52% of businesses experienced an interruption or disaster of some kind within the last 2 years. Source: 2009 Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Surveyconducted by Hughes Marketing Group & Agility Recovery Solutions.
After being aware of these facts do you think your company can dodge a bullet? Your board/owner/boss needs to be informed. You should publicize these stats and encourage them to take heed.
On a more positive note:
- Having a comprehensive disaster recovery plan means you are better prepared for a disaster and more likely to keep your business up and running, with minimum interruption.
- Testing your disaster recovery plan is critical. It allows you to determine what works best and what doesn't. The information learned during a test can help amend your plan so that when a disaster does strike you're able to recover more effectively and efficiently.
- Working with your vendors and 3rd party disaster recovery consultant/provider improves the chances of survival. They will help you get your hands on the things you need to keep your business functioning.
- A well developed, tested, up-to-date disaster recovery plan is an "insurance policy"; if the worst occurs you know you are covered. It will help you quickly react, and minimize any damage.
What it boils down to is this; at some point in time a disaster will
happen, whether it's natural or facilities or resources related. If you have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan which has been tested and regularly revised then your chances of survival are greatly increased. If you don't, you are playing Russian roulette and the odds are stacked against you.
Does your boss really want to run the risk of a failing business? Or disrupting customers? Or forcing their employees out of work? Who will be left to pick up the pieces? Ask them. Remind them that disaster recovery planning
doesn't have to be expensive, and emphasize the point until you can see true progress.
For more information on how to gain management support join us on Wednesday, January 27 at 2:00 p.m. EST for a free educational webinar - Securing Management Buy-in for Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity. Register today!!
- Ben Pritchard
Agility Recovery Solutions
Agility Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Solutions
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Posted by Ben Pritchard on Wed, Dec 16, 2009
Communication saturation has become as normal and vital as
breathing, especially in the business world.
We need efficient and constant communication channels both internally
and externally for our organizations; as well as with colleagues, partners,
vendors and customers.
Put simply, communication makes our business more effective
in every way, even allowing for the stream of inappropriate and occasionally
funny emails that circulate within every office.
A communication breakdown can worsen the immediate and
lasting effects of a disaster. So, the question I have is: how will you
communicate in the midst of a crisis? How will you get your employees back to
work if you cannot get in touch with them? How will you get the resources
necessary to recover if you can't talk to your vendors? How will your business
survive if you can't reach out to your customers? If you don't have a solid answer
to these questions then your business could be circling the drain.
Don't wait until your office is a glowing hole in the ground
to start wondering how to communicate with the world. The key is planning. With
that in mind, here are a few ideas:
- Define the essential individuals you need to
communicate with i.e. employees, customers, and vendors.
- Identify appropriate and effective forms of
communication for each group.
-
Build an emergency contact list for employees
and key vendors that includes home and mobile phone numbers, personal emails,
and family contact info.
- Set-up an Alert Notification System (there are a
number of vendors out there, plus Agility provides one as part of our standard
membership). Be sure to share its purpose with employees and test the system regularly.
- Determine how you will contact your customers as
well as how they can contact you. Don't let them call in to a dead line; you'll
lose a lot of customer confidence in a very short space of time.
Once you have identified the key contacts from each group,
start working on your media choices. For example:
- Employees - text messages, emails, Twitter (see,
it does actually have its uses after all!), online message boards, phone trees
(delegate responsibilities for calling within your organization).
- Customers - in addition to emailing and Tweeting,
think about placing announcements with local newspapers, TV stations, radio stations
and your own website. If your building is still standing then put up notices
there. You should also have contact information for your customers, so email them
and, if you can, follow-up with a reassuring phone call to inform them of the
current situation and what you are doing to resolve it.
- Vendors - to be honest a combination of any of
the above would be effective. Contact them, tell them what you need, and tell
them the best ways reach you.
- For all of the above make sure you get an
effective phone redirection strategy in place and get it working as soon as
possible following a disaster. A disconnected phone line can lose you
customers, panic your employees, and even lead to your vendors allocating the
resources you need to other clients.
The caveat I would place here is that it is important not to
get carried away. If you go all out and try to do everything listed above,
things are likely to get complicated. Take
a good long look at the most effective channels of communication that are
appropriate for your business, and stick with them. Incorporate this communication
plan into your larger disaster recovery strategy, and make sure to communicate
your disaster recovery plan to the people who will be required for it to work,
and then practice it. And, as always, be prepared to improvise, adapt and
overcome.
Happy DR planning! Have a wonderful, safe and
disaster free Holiday Season!
- Ben Pritchard
Agility Recovery Solutions
Agility Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Solutions
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Posted by Matt Spada on Mon, Dec 14, 2009
There's that inevitable point when meeting someone for
the first time... Usually it's immediately following the first awkward pause,
where whatever you were initially chatting about reaches a natural end, and you
find yourself staring down at the drink in your hand. At these moments, there
are a few go-to topics: a) the weather, b) [insert local sports team] and c) "what
do you do for a living?"
When I mention that I work for a disaster recovery company,
most people aren't exactly sure what that means (or if you're like my
grandmother, you envision your grandson dangling precariously out of
helicopter, rescuing small animals post-Katrina). And for the sake of casual
banter, the best way in my experience to explain disaster recovery is to equate
it to insurance. There are natural parallels - especially given how Agility
structures our services into memberships - you pay us a small monthly fee, and if
you ever need us, we're there. No matter what.
Of course, having a business continuity plan and having
insurance are not the same things.
But they are complimentary to each other, and when used effectively, together they
can be the glue that holds your business together during an interruption. In
addition, there are also many misconceptions about the roles and interactions of
business continuity plans and insurance. Complex policies and coverages can lead to equally
daunting questions, such as:
- Is building a continuity plan enough?
- Do we carry enough coverage on our building?
- What costs would be incurred during a recovery?
This Wednesday, December 16th at 2pm, Agility Recovery Solutions will
be hosting another installment of our free webinar program, featuring Donald
Long, Manager of Business Risk and Continuity Planner with Kingsway America, Inc.
Don has more than twenty years experience on the subject, and the program will
be an incredibly valuable experience, as he discusses how to address these
questions and more.
Listen in, watch and learn. At the very least, there won't
be any awkward pauses.
- Matt Spada
Agility Recovery Solutions
Agility Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Solutions
blog.agilityrecovery.com
Follow us on Twitter here
Posted by Ben Pritchard on Tue, Nov 24, 2009
The concept of "going green" is not exactly new. It has
been doing the rounds for quite a while now, to the point that you would have
to be living under a rock to not have heard the impending doom that global warming will bring. The polar ice-caps are shrinking,
the atmosphere is clogged with noxious gases, meanwhile dolphins and polar
bears are quietly disappearing. The solution, it seems, is to fit your home
with a mini-power
station which runs on cow flatulence, drive a
Prius, wear hemp,
and recycle your children!
However, the days when the
warnings of environmental Armageddon
were regarded as the delirious rants of a small group of lunatics are long
gone. Whether you believe global warming to be a man-made
phenomenon or the natural
climatic cycle of our planet, you cannot escape the irrefutable truth that
mankind is participating in the destruction of its own habitat to some extent. Forests
are shrinking, oceans are dying, and breathing is, bizarrely enough, a really
bad idea in some cities.
Since this is something that
affects all of us, it follows that we should all do our bit, not just at home, but in
the business world as well. Change takes time, especially when talking about altering
processes and procedures and trying to balance it against the very raison d'être
of most businesses (whether actually admitted or not): making money.
I am not going to devote
another thousand words or so to arguing that having a social and
environmental conscience is, perhaps, more important nowadays, rather I am
going to assume I am preaching to the converted. With that assumption in mind,
let's move on.
Given that a disaster is
probably not the best time to begin implementing wholesale changes to your organization,
let's have a look at how already being green can help when it comes to a
recovery. There are a number of obvious steps you can take. For example:
The Paperless
Office - This is one of the most
frequently talked about ways of reducing your environmental footprint. Given
that estimates for paper use in the US are in the range of 10,000
sheets per office worker per year, it is no wonder. From a disaster recovery
perspective, why complicate things by having to rely on masses of printed
documents and having to fill your recovery space with paper? Take the
electronic document storage route and store your key documents online or,
better yet, at an off-site data center. Not only is it a lot easier to access
documents on a laptop rather than having to lug around multiple paper versions.
To top it off it is also less of a drain on the environment.
Server
Virtualization - IT equipment
tends to be huge consumers of power, not only because it is on all the time,
but also because it requires constant cooling and monitoring. Virtualization is
software technology which allows one server to "host" other servers. I am not
going to go into huge technical detail here because my head will explode, so the
non-technical version is that you have one server doing the job of multiple
servers. The net result is fewer physical servers = less power consumption = less
cost. Not only are you consuming less power, you are also setting yourself up for
an easier, less costly recovery, since you will need less physical resources.
Virtual
Workers - Wherever practical,
encourage employees to work from home. Not only does this reduce the energy and
resource consumption associated with commuting, it also reduces your office
energy consumption and physical footprint during a recovery.
Desktop
vs. Laptop - Yes, I am well aware
of the fact that laptops are somewhat of a status symbol in some offices. All
you status conscious bods will love this - there is an environmental and financial case for getting rid of as
many desktops as possible. Put simply (again, anything too technical and blood
will shoot from my ears), an average desktop will use around 120W for the
computer itself and another 80W for an old fashioned CRT
monitor (20W for an LCD screen). A relatively powerful laptop, on the other
hand, uses only 30W. Assuming you have desktops with LCD screens throughout
your office, if you switch to laptops you will be looking at a savings of 79%. Outside
of energy efficiency also consider that most people take their laptops home
with them every night. In the event of a disaster your employees will have them
on hand to either work from home (see above) or move to your recovery site and immediately
continue to carry on. Productivity at its max even in the immediate aftermath
of a disaster!
To sit here and write a
comprehensive list of green options would take all day not to mention it would
be so long that most of you would switch off and go for a quick chat with your
mates by the water cooler. The ideas above, however, should be enough to get
you thinking about how you can take an environmentally friendly route for your
business. As if it's not enough motivation to help save the planet, you can
save money and improve your chances
of surviving
a disaster in the process. Not too bad, eh?
- Ben Pritchard
Agility Recovery Solutions
Agility Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Solutions
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