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Business Continuity
Management:
Is your survival kit ready
if disaster strikes?
By: Bill Lang, CBCP, MBCI, CBCV Business Continuity Program Manager VCPI
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Executive Summary
You have an excellent emergency response plan in place. You have successfully evacuated resident facilities; sheltered in place one of your nurses when that angry spouse tried to enter a facility in violation of a restraining order; and handled the H1N1 flu outbreak. You are confident about your preparations, but have you thought about the following questions if your corporate facility and data center were to be destroyed?
What alternate site will your departments work from? Does everyone (including those who use public transportation) know how to get to the location?
How many PCs are stored offsite and how long will it take to prepare them so that staff can return to work?
Does your alternate data center have the necessary network capacity and has all the other equipment been maintained for recovery purposes?
How long will it take to have your phones forwarded so you can take calls from facilities, families, referrals, and other partners like banks and suppliers?
When will offsite tape backups arrive at your alternate data center so you can recover your Information Technology (IT), and how long will the recovery process take?
If your business functions are paperless, how will your resident facilities track information until your computer systems are back up? Have arrangements been made with the USPS, UPS and FedEx? Do you have a plan to pay your employees when it isn’t possible to
cut checks or deposit funds?
Thankfully, this situation is hypothetical, but hopefully it got you thinking. If you aren’t fully prepared yet, you can be with proper Business
Continuity Management.
The Bottom Line:
Facilities cannot afford to rely on instinct when it comes to
preparing for a disaster.
Preparation is vital to maintaining “business as usual” when
adversity strikes.
What It Means:
A facility that is only partially prepared is doing itself and its residents a disservice. When a disaster occurs, all bases must be covered to ensure that a business can continue to function.
The Takeaway:
Advance planning is essential in keeping a business active even in the face of disaster. Business Continuity Management protects facilities by ensuring that
business continues during recovery of damaged corporate facilities and data centers.
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Will You Be Ready?
You are prepared for anything that threatens your residents and that is by far the most important responsibility you have. But you must also keep your business running seamlessly after an undesirable incident. The following are nine unexpected issues that an unprepared facility may face:
1. Business processes fail
2. Employee continuity suffers with late paychecks, lost confidence, employee flight
3. Resident continuity of care suffers 4. Families become hostile
5. Supplies are interrupted 6. Reputation is damaged
7. Referrals are lost and residents leave
8. Scrutiny of plans by families, staff and local Health and Human Services
9. Litigation and discovery risk increases
What is Business Continuity
Management?
Business Continuity Management is an established and proven framework used by professional practitioners to help plan for the continuation of business functions like payroll, Accounts Payable and Receivable following any disaster or interruption in services. It is a methodical approach to identify threats to your business and your vulnerabilities. Threats are then ranked in order of importance so that no time is wasted preparing and planning for low frequency and low impact hazards.
When you complete a Business Continuity Management effort you have a self-maintaining program that fits in with your daily operations while continually maintaining and improving your business continuity management plans.
“Forty percent of U.S. businesses that suffer a major disaster never reopen; of the ones that do survive, roughly 25 percent close in two years.”
1 Weidling, Jessica. “Gearing Up.” Government
Technology. 15 May 2007. Web. 27 May 2010.
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Four Corners and Ten Steps
The following four corners and ten steps outline the basic content of a Business Continuity Management program. Each missing item highlights potential unpreparedness and reduces your chances of survival.
Implementation of a Business Continuity Management program helps to ensure business survival during a disaster.
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About the Author
Bill Lang has been the Business Continuity Program Manager for VCPI
and its clients since November 2005. A full time Business Continuity Management (BCM) professional since 1998, Bill uses his 30+ years of IT experience to implement recovery techniques that have been proven successful in disasters. Bill is an active contributor to many online forums and a regular speaker at Long Term Care and BCM conferences as well as having articles published in University text books, Emergency Management, BCM, and LTC periodicals. Bill has memberships in several Emergency Management associations and contributes as a member of BCM related committees such as ASIS BCM and ASTM EOC. Bill earned his BBA-MIS from UW-Milwaukee, completed
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training, and became a trained storm spotter while fulfilling all the requirements to certify VCPI in the National Weather Service’s StormReady program. Bill also mentors students in life decisions through Telementor.org.
About VCPI
Headquartered in Milwaukee, WI, VCPI helps clients solve business challenges with technology and beyond…without a staff. For more than 1,700 communities across the U.S., VCPI takes care of technology, enabling clients to focus on taking care of residents. VCPI was founded in 2000 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Extendicare REIT, one of the largest operators of long-term care, home health and assisted living communities in the U.S. and Canada.
Have questions? Phone: 877.908.VCPI Fax: 414.908.7393
Email: [email protected]
