Future research can include areas such as investigating and developing strategies of how to measure the impact of a Business Continuity Plan on organizations. Our research is proposing guidelines and not taking in consideration the measurement of the outcomes. Additionally, the investigation of other cases within the same or another business sector could lead to a better foundation of our results.
Since our research is aiming for generalizations, a more specific approach could help other particular companies due to their need of certain particular requirements.
References
APM PRAM (2006), Association for Project Management, Project Risk Analysis and Management Guide (2nd edition), APM Publishing: High Wycombe, Bucks, UK,
Botha, J. & von Solms, R. (2004) A cyclic approach to business continuity planning. In- formation Management & Computer Security, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 328-337, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Checkland, P. (2000). Soft Systems Methodology: A Thirty Year Retrospective. Sys- tems Research and Behavioral Science, Vol. 17, S11–S58
Colorado State University Department of English (2009) Generalizability: Definition, http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/gentrans/com2b1.cfm
Retrieved May 27th 2009
Doughty, K. (2000) Best Practices, Volume 15 : Business Continuity Planning : Pro- tecting Your Organization's Life.
Boca Raton, FL, USA: Auerbach Publishers, Incorporated, p 6, 8.
http://site.ebrary.com.bibl.proxy.hj.se/lib/jonhh/Doc?id=10074957&ppg=29
Goldkuhl. G. (1998). Kunskapande. Internationella Handelshögskolan i Jönköping. Centrum för studier av Människa, Teknik och Organisation (CMTO). Linköpings uni- versitet
Hallows, J. (2005) Information Systems Project Management: How to Deliver Function and Value in Information Technology Projects, Second Edition, Chapter 4, Amacon Karakasidis, K. (1997) A project planning process for business continuity, Information Management &Computer Security, pp 72–78, MCB University Press
McCrackan, Andrew. Practical Guide to Business Continuity Assurance.
Norwood, MA, USA: Artech House, Incorporated, 2004. pp. 64-65, 97-98, 123.
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/jonhh/Doc?id=10082015&ppg=109
Morwood, G. (1998) Business Continuity: Awareness and Training Programmes. In- formation Management & Computer Security, MCP University Press.
Newell, M. & Grashina, M. (2004) The Project Management Question and Answer Book, Chapter 8, Amacon
Potter, S. (2002) Doing Postgraduate Research. Sage Publications, p.160
Reuvid, J. (2007). Managing Business Risk (4th Edition), London, GBR: Kogan Page, Limited, p 6
Reuvid, J. (2006) Secure Online Business Handbook: A Practical Guide to Risk Man- agement and Business Continuity (4th Edition).
Saunders, M. et al. (2007) Research Methods for Business Students. 4th Edition, Prentice Hall, p 61.
Wan, S. (2009) Analysis Using Business Continuity Planning Processes. Campus-Wide Information Systems, Vol. 26 No. 1
Weems, T.L. (1999) Business continuity planning – for the rest of us. Disaster Recovery Journal in Botha, J. & von Solms, R. (2004) A cyclic approach to business continuity planning. Information Management & Computer Security, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 328-337, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Yin, R. K. (2003) Case Study Research: Design and Methods (3rd Edition), Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage in Saunders, M. et al. (2007) Research Methods for Business Students. 4th Edition, Prentice Hall, p 61.
Appendix
Appendix 1
Interview with the Nordic operating manager
1. What role do you have in the organization?
Nordic operating manager. I am working closely with the contact center in Norway, where the board meetings occur.
2. What are the main tasks in your position?
Strategic tasks mostly such as coaching, development, HR, systems, customer expecta- tions, talent management, and CRM system owner.
3. What authority do you have?
High - below the highest board.
4. How are the Business processes / workflow functioning?
Since the organization is very complex and spread, the degree of flexibility is not too high.
The organization’s performance and strategies are mostly based on several key performance indicators (KPI) such as availability, adherence, average handling time (AHT), and fix at first time.
The organization measures productivity in hours available for the customer. Problems with the business processes:
To get the right competence at the right time
There is no system, in order to find sufficient information for achieving quick handling time (related to fix at first time)
5. How are the errors of system issues handled?
The organization is working with a twin system solution at the headquarter loca- tion. This means that there is a spare server provided if the regular one goes down.
Organization has a log to document the problems Problem with the systems:
IT support is outsourced due to system centralization, Feels that in-house com- petence would be nice to have – but not possible
Broadband problems – slows down the business flow Different system have different problems
- Speed problems
- Some systems are still in the development phase, it will approximately take 1-2 more years to get a finished product that the organization can live with No backup plan
No routines
6. How do the problems affect the organization?
Each problem has a direct or indirect impact on the KPI’s, with other words tremendous impact.
7. How do you handle the problems?
Some of the problems, mainly technical are documented in the log. In most cases the employees ask the local IT manager when a problem occurs. If the local IT manager cannot solve the problem he asks the headquarter/IT support.
8. Do you have any follow up routines to the problems?
No, more or less all the follow up routines is in the local IT manager’s head.
9. Do you have any BCP? If not, why? – if not, are you thinking of developing one
No, we have not been thinking about it and we have not the time for it. We would prefer to have one but there is no plan in developing one.
Appendix 2
Interview 1 with the local IT Manager for the department
1. Do you have a BCP/Strategy?
There is no plan. There is not much effort put in to it. It would be preferred to have one, due to all the existing problems.
2. How do you deal with the problems?
-The contact management system covers email, support, sales, and ticket system.
- It is quite easy to get support with the contact management system. We have a contact management system support in Norway. When a problem occurs I usually e-mail the support in Norway about the problem.
-Contact management system problems can be very locally but some problems can be very deep which I can’t solve by myself. Responsibility for fault assurance lies at the very top.
3. Which problems do you experience as the most extensive?
1. Finding the right support guy/getting to the right guy. Help is needed mostly very fast and the helpdesk in Norway is very big, this aggravates the process of finding the right guy. Receiving the help depends on the problem, since different people have different responsibilities.
2. Routine how to report problems/problem reports. Problems can be very deep. We are in need of a routine of how to act. The entire chain is in need of a routine. Today when a problem occurs the employees e-mail me about the problem, come by and ask face to face, just run around, and sometimes they do nothing, just lazy.
3.The biggest problem/issue is with the contact management system and vendor problems.
When I´m gone a local IT manager in Norway helps the department to handle the problems. It is descent to reach him.
4. What are the consequences when Contact management system is down?
-Losing customers, customers lose faith, losing money and not reaching the goals -The company keeps track of the problems, collecting info and will in the end try to cal- culate how much they lose in downtime.
5. Do you have a documentation plan for the problems?
The problems that I can solve are kept in a log. The deep problems such as code errors are not documented, because it is only the software vendor who has the right knowledge and the rights. Also all the local IT-problems are documented.
6. Which of the working tasks are the most time consuming?
-Computer problems are most time consuming such as hardware, logging in problems, crashing problems etc.
-The backup action when the contact management system crashes is to turn on a ma- chine that tells customers that they have technical problems and that they can mail in- stead. But the e-mail doesn’t work when Contact management system is down.
-The company has everything centralized in their databases at the plant, and a backup is sent to Norway regularly which is time consuming.
7. How does the communication work between you and the consultants and the vendor?
-I don’t get that much time with the consultants as I would need/like to. Normally I am not in contact with the vendor, the consultants contact the vendor.
8. How do employees solve problems?
-They wait for feedback from group leaders
9. How is the training conducted?
-The leaders (Department Managers) together with me are forming the training.
10. What would you like to include in the training?
-I would like more training and education around routing of problems.
Appendix 3
Interview 2 with the local IT Manager for the department
1. How does the organizational structure look like (picture)?
2. How does system structure look like (picture)?
IT manager for the call center in Sweden. High authority locally and low authority cen- trally. Problems and issues that are beyond my authority are forwarded to the IT de- partment in Norway. Some of these problems tend to take twice as much time to solve.
4. Are problems and risk assessment addressed in the management meetings, if so how and how often?
Yes, we have meetings once a month with a decent structure. During the meetings I get approximately 30 minutes to talk about the systems and issues related to them. We also keep protocols during each meeting and at following meeting the progress is checked according to the protocol.
5. Unknown problems
a. The CMS server full every morning – log files too big
The CMS server located in Norway is getting full with the log files, this result into that we cannot receive calls from the customers when we open. The problem has been known more than three months and still no actions have been taken to solve it. The IT department in Norway does not want to solve the problem; they claim that it is the soft- ware vendor who has the responsibility for that.
b. .NET error messages
The Contact Management System is based on a .Net framework; sometimes we get un- explained error messages which results into client’s crash. Even here the IT department in Norway blames the responsibility on the software vendor.
c. IVR
IVR stands for “interactive voice response” it is the voice menu of our contact man- agement system. We have a number of issues related our IVR. The voice menu have bad sound quality which irritates many customers, sometimes choices don’t work and at times the customers are put in any queue but not in the one of choice.
d. Back + Save
After clicking the back button and then save button the client sometimes crashes.
6. What is the likelihood and impact of the identified problems in relation to the risk evaluation table?
Appendix 4
Questionnaire supplied to the Agents
Frågeformulär
Detta frågeformulär är avsett för en kandidatuppsats som skrivs av 3 studenter på hög- skolan i Jönköping. Uppsatsen behandlar betydelsen av en kontinuitetsplan inom före-
tag.
All data kommer att hanteras anonymt.
För frågor rörande uppsatsen så kan vi nås på följande mail adress: [email protected], eller telefon: 0736-xxxxx.
1. Kön?
Man Kvinna
2. Hur lång tid har du jobbat här?
0- 3 månader 4-6 månader 6-12 månader 1 år eller mer
3. Vilka eventuella problem känner du existerar på avdelningen som begränsar din ar- betsförmåga/arbetsmål?
4. Hur skall man, tycker du gå, tillväga för att förhindra/eliminera proble- met/problemen?
Appendix 5
Questionnaire answers from the Agents
1. Gender?
Men = 7 Women = 3
2. How long have you worked for the call center?
0-3 Months = 0 4-6 Months = 0 6-12 Months = 2 1 Year or more = 8
3. What possible problems do you feel exist at the call center and to what extent do these problems limit your working capacity and working goals?
Respondent 1: We know too little about our products. Lack of product knowledge is the main problem
Respondent 2: Many system related problems, the payment process muddle too often; this creates irritation both with the customers and the agents. The contact management system is too often down. It also feels that we have too many different systems; it would have been easier with one or at least fewer systems. It would be much more efficient to have a better homepage with more information about the products, today one have to look after information from other sites or from the colleagues.
Respondent 3: I think that we work with too many systems/applications, this result into an inefficient way of working, time consuming.
Respondent 4: The requirements on the invoice function are too high. It feels like only 1 of 3 invoice processes succeeds. Installment function would be nice to have online/by phone also to be able to accept gift cards.
Respondent 5: In most cases it is the technical issues such as system failure that limit my working capacity/goals. We also lack resources (information) that our competitors have. There is also too little marketing towards our customers about us.
Respondent 6: Technology, applications that crashes or lags. Parts of the management.
5
Management to inflexible.
Respondent 7: To high loudness level, tight with space. To low sound on incoming calls. Not enough product knowledge.
Respondent 8: Low commitment from the management. Lack of knowledge.
Respondent 9: To high loudness level, this result into frustration and difficulties of un- derstanding what the customers are saying. This forces me to talk louder with the cus- tomer which sometimes is perceived in a bad way from the customers.
Respondent 10: The major problems are all the problems related to the contact man- agement system. It is too instable with too many bugs. I crashes and freezes at once a
day. The second problem is the lack of information available to us. The product infor- mation available is insufficient most of the times. This forces most of us to tell the cus- tomer to wait and look for the information from other sources.
4. From your point of view, what needs to be done in order to prevent/eliminate the problem/problems?
Respondent 1 (W): More product knowledge, more knowledge and focus on the prod- ucts with good margin.
Respondent 2 (W): I think we need more than one IT-manager, one is not enough. More communication about the system problems, we need to be able to give feedback about the problems and someone needs to work with them regularly.
Respondent 3: A platform that enables all the applications integrated with each other. Respondent 4: Lower the requirements of payment system
Respondent 5: Market the call center to the customers. Focus on attaining better and more sales tools ex. Installation of products in all Sweden not only in Stockholm, return freight, installment. Be able to give the customer more packaged prices and discounts than we have today.
Respondent 6: Prevent technical issues/problems with more stable and less sensitive systems. Restructure the management. More flexibility for the agents.
Respondent 7: Take advantage of the work space available. Invest in working systems! Allocate more resources in providing more information about the products.
Respondent 8: Put more effort in employment. Better and more frequent education. Respondent 9: One problem was that our department lacked cohesion, to solve that we moved the agent’s tables closer to each other. This action resulted instead to a new problem, such as the loudness issue.
Respondent 10: The management needs to realize that the systems need to be improved and they need to take action so changes really happen. Better information resources and tools needs to be available for us.
Appendix 6
Problems from agent’s perspective
System/technical issuesMany system related problems
The contact management system is too often down. It also feels that we have too many different systems; it would have been easier with one or at least fewer sys- tems
I think that we work with too many systems/applications, this result into an inef- ficient way of working, time consuming
In most cases it is the technical issues such as system failure that limit my work- ing capacity/goals
Technology, applications that crashes or lags To low sound on incoming calls
The major problem is all the problems related to the contact management sys- tem. It is too instable with too many bugs. I crashes and freezes at once a day Payment issues
The payment process muddle too often; this creates irritation both with the cus- tomers and the agents
Requirements on the invoice function are too high. It feels like only one out of three invoice processes succeeds
Knowledge/resource issues
We know too little about our products. Lack of product knowledge is the main problem
It would be much more efficient to have a better homepage with more informa- tion about the products, today one have to look after information from other sites or from the colleagues
We also lack resources (information) that our competitors have Lack of knowledge
The second problem is the lack of information available to us. The product in- formation available is insufficient most of the times. This forces most of us to tell the customer to wait and look for the information from other sources
Work Environment
To high loudness level, this result into frustration and difficulties of understand- ing what the customers are saying. This forces me to talk louder with the cus- tomer which sometimes is perceived in a bad way from the customers
To high loudness level, tight working space. Too low sound on incoming calls Not enough product knowledge
Management
Parts of the management Management to inflexible
Lack of marketing
There is also too little marketing towards our customers about us
Solutions from Agents perspective
System/technical issuesA platform that enables all the applications integrated with each other Lower the requirements of payment system
Prevent technical issues/problems with more stable and less sensitive systems Invest in working systems!
The management needs to realize that the systems need to be improved and they need to take action so changes really happen
Knowledge/resource issues
More product knowledge, more knowledge and focus on the products with good margin
Focus on attaining better and more sales tools ex. Installation of products in all Sweden not only in Stockholm, return freight, installment. Be able to give the customer more packaged prices and discounts than we have today
More flexibility for the agents
Take advantage of the work space available
Allocate more resources in providing more information about the products Better and more frequent education
Better information resources and tools needs to be available for us
Work Environment
One problem was that our department lacked cohesion, to solve that we moved the agent’s tables closer to each other. This action resulted instead to a new problem, such as the loudness issue
Management
More communication about the system problems, we need to be able to give feedback about the problems and someone needs to work with them regularly