Developing a Disaster Plan for Your Call Center

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Developing a Disaster Plan for Your Call

Center

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Before We Start, Let’s Get Acquainted

Today’s Speaker

Tom FitzGibbon, Director of Undergraduate Admissions, UNext, LLC

Background

•

15 Years Inbound and Outbound Call Center Management experience

(65-250 seats)

• Financial Services

• Insurance

• Non-Profit

• Education

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Agenda

Today’s Topics

•

Call Center Disasters

•

Typical Resolution Plans

•

Disaster Costs – Quantitative and Qualitative

•

Disaster Prevention Planning

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Disasters Can Range From a Short Term Network Outage

to the Loss of the Facility

Call Center Disasters

•

Network (national) Telecom Failure

•

Local Telecom Failure

•

Power Loss

•

Data Loss / Inaccessibility

•

Supporting Systems Outage

•

Acts of God

Not only is the type of disaster a factor, but the length of time the disaster exists is

also important

Not only is the type of disaster a factor, but the length of time the disaster exists is

also important

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When a Failure Occurs Within Your National Telecom

Network, Steps Must Be Taken Quickly to Restore Service

Timeline

Action Steps

Less than 1 Hour • Contact local support for provider

• Determine provider’s action plans to resolve issue

• Notify customers of outage

• Instruct provider to message callers 1 – 2 Hours • Contact provider for resolution progress

• Determine any fall-over options

2 – 4 Hours • Contact local telecom vendor for options

• Contact network provider for progress report

• Execute fall-over options if available

4 – 12 Hours • Contact network provider for progress report

• Determine inbound call diversion plan Greater than 12

Hours • Execute inbound call diversion plan

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When a Failure Occurs Within Your Local Telecom

Network, Action Steps Are Similar to the National Level

Timeline

Action Steps

Less than 1 Hour • Contact local support for provider

• Notify customers of outage

• Instruct provider to message callers 1 – 2 Hours • Contact provider for resolution progress

• Determine any fall-over options

2 – 4 Hours • Contact local telecom vendor for options

• Contact network provider for progress report

• Execute fall-over options if available

4 – 12 Hours • Contact network provider for progress report

• Determine agent relocation plan Greater than 12

Hours • Execute agent relocation plan

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When a Power Failure Occurs, Alternative Power Options

Should Be Considered

Timeline

Action Steps

Less than 1 Hour • Contact local support for provider

• Instruct telephony network providers to message customers

• Activate redundant power supply

1 – 2 Hours • Contact provider for resolution progress

• Determine any fall-over options 2 – 4 Hours • Contact provider for progress report

• Execute fall-over options if available 4 – 12 Hours • Contact provider for progress report

• Determine inbound call diversion plan Greater than 12

Hours • Execute inbound call diversion plan

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When Data Is Lost or Inaccessible, Internal and External

Communications Are Necessary

Timeline

Action Steps

Less than 1 Hour • Notify internal staff of outage

• Determine restoration plan

• Determine fall-over options

• Contact technical support for software product (if applicable) 1 – 2 Hours • Notify internal staff of progress

• Determine business impacts 2 – 4 Hours • Notify internal staff of progress

• Access back-up data source

• Execute back-up plan

4 – 12 Hours • Contact software provider for progress report Greater than 12

Hours • Notify staff of progress

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Generally, When Internal Systems or Technologies Fail,

There Is a Cascading Effect Throughout the Enterprise

Timeline

Action Steps

Less than 1 Hour • Notify internal staff of outage

• Notify and engage internal technical support

• Determine fall-over options

• Contact technical support for software product (if applicable) 1 – 2 Hours • Notify internal staff of progress

• Determine business impacts

• Notify customers of problem 2 – 4 Hours • Notify internal staff of progress

• Access back-up data source

• Execute back-up plan

4 – 12 Hours • Contact software provider for progress report Greater than 12

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“Acts of God” Disasters Can Have a Long Term Impact on

Operational Performance

Timeline

Action Steps

At Event • Contact Government (police, fire, etc.) for assistance

• Notify customers (network telephony provider)

• Notify Staff

• Determine fall-over availability

• Determine access to data/systems

• Execute fall-over plan

• Determine employee relocation plan

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For Call Centers, Disaster Prevention Planning Can Be a

Costly Endeavor

Action Step

Description

Cost

Contract with a outsourced call center

Engaging in a contract with an outsourced call center that can support overall

operations of the call center in the event of a disaster or in high call volume situations

Monthly access charge whether service is used or not

Develop internal redundancies to support systemic outages

Invest in back up hardware, software, and back up power supplies to support

operations in the event of an outage

Cost of servers and power units

Add clause to all vendor contracts that require immediate redundancy

For use with software, hardware and network vendors that requires immediate fall over capability

Additional costs charged by vendors

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Quantitative Costs of Disasters Are Significant

Cost

Description

Loss of Revenue When disasters occur, customers can’t interact with your company. Thus, they either don’t buy, delay purchase, or go with another vendor that provides a like good or service

Staff Costs When disasters occur, subsets or the entire staff of the company is idle waiting for a resolution to the problem

Relocation Costs In the event of a significant disaster, your company may have to relocate operations, people, and resources to restart operations at another location

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While It’s Difficult to Prevent a Disaster, the Level of

Planning Will Impact the Events

Planning Step

Description

ID Critical Systems Determine what systems are necessary to maintain operations in the call center. Examples would be ACD/PBX, Recording, databases, and servers supporting the call center.

ID Vendor Service

Level Agreements Determine the level of support provided by external contractors providing support to call center systems. Service levels should be tied to specific outage thresholds, and should require onsite support if specific events result

Draft the Call Center

DR Plan Develop the DR plan for the call center that addresses the needs of all constituencies impacted by an outage in the call center. This should include customers, staff, and vendors

Establish a Testing

Process After development, test the plan routinely to make sure it has the intended results

Maintain the Plan As new technologies, people, and vendors are brought on board, update the plan to ensure adherence and required performance

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Thank You for Attending, Now to Your Questions

Contact Information

Thomas P. FitzGibbon, III

1309 North Wells Street – Suite 708

Chicago, IL 60610

(312) 907-7634