By 4:30 a.m., the fire had grown to a four-alarm blaze and raged through the night, damaging equipment worth millions of dollars. By 9 a.m., the entire facility — which served hundreds of commercial customers — was destroyed.
The unexpected can happen to any organization. And while you can’t control the unexpected, you can control the response.
In the case of the fire, the company’s response was drawn up months earlier. As a result, service continued without disruption. The morning after the incident, trucks started their routes, picking up mail from customers throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Mail was presorted at a second Pitney Bowes facility in the vicinity and other sites in the region to ensure rapid induction and delivery.
In addition to having a mail service network of 36 operational facilities to redirect workflow, Pitney Bowes had designed, documented and tested a formal business continuity plan. When disaster struck, local management knew exactly what to do to safeguard employees, secure the building, protect customer data, reroute the mail and make requested customer pickups and deliveries as scheduled.
The company immediately began searching for a new mail presort facility. Frequent communications to customers continued long after the initial disaster. There were no breaches of customer security, and insurance claims were in the works within 30 days.
Five months after the fire, teams continued to follow through on tasks outlined in the formal plan.
The disaster site remained closed, pending completion of the final insurance investigation, including the cause and origin review — but Pitney Bowes continued assisting clients on insurance claims processing.
During that time, the company experienced a 98 percent customer retention rate — a testament not only to the teams and plans in place, but also the high levels of understanding, encouragement and support provided by customers.
In June, a new, state-of-the-art facility was opened in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Key Phases of Business Continuity
There are three key phases of business continuity: the plan, implementation and follow-up.
1. The plan
Top management initiates a comprehensive business impact analysis, which involves cross-departmental teams identifying the business’s most critical systems and processes and the potential impact a disaster would have on each area. A thorough risk assessment also includes an inventory of the entire business, the facilities, and for each facility, the people, equipment, software and relevant data housed there.
Business analysts then imagine as many disaster scenarios as possible, hypothesizing how to handle each one and prioritizing the risks. The scenarios include the “domino effect,” when more than one thing goes wrong, such as the earthquake in Japan that was followed by a tsunami then a nuclear disaster. The business impact analysis helps determine the sequence of activities, identifying which services should be restored first.
Once complete, a business continuity plan provides a detailed, step-by-step primer on what to do, when to do it, who to bring in and how to follow through. The best plans include simple checklists and priorities that are easy to follow during stressful emergency situations. Since staff turnover is an ongoing issue, the business continuity plan must be written by job function rather than by the employee’s name.
The document further defines emergency response protocols and the “recovery point objective,” or when the mission is complete. This is crucial for the long-term health of a business, particularly
service businesses, as the customer is the ultimate arbiter of when service is back to normal.
The business continuity plan should establish communications guidelines and service levels that help staff effectively manage customer expectations throughout the disaster and its aftermath. As data integrity is the backbone of many service organizations, sections on IT planning and recovery must detail procedures for backing up data and designating alternative sites for housing data. If the need is great enough, as in the financial services industry, duplicate systems are often created offsite so they are ready for immediate deployment.
The final part of plan development is annual training. Everyone involved, from executives to the on-site implementation team, must review the plan annually. Organizational structures and personnel change constantly, and new team members need to understand their roles. Executive management must sign off on the plan, empowering the management team to rapidly respond to a disaster. The plan must be rigorously tested under conditions that are as realistic as possible. Each facility needs to designate a lead for its business continuity implementation team.
2. The implementation
Once the business continuity plan is in place and staff members are trained, every situation, no matter how onerous, can be met with confidence. When disaster strikes, implement the plan immediately and focus first on short-term needs.
Ten best practices during the implementation phase:
1. Ensure employee safety. Follow proper safety procedures for evacuation in the event of a fire or other disaster, making sure that everyone is out of the building and at a safe distance. Perform a head count to verify that no one is left behind.
2. Contact local emergency assistance. Cooperate with local authorities, and let trained professionals do their jobs without interference.
3. Secure the data center; if it is endangered or compromised, carry out the IT disaster recovery plans.
4. Secure client information and assets. Especially important for service providers, getting client information, materials and product to a safe place must be top priority. In the event of a natural disaster, such as a fire, on-site security can establish a perimeter.
5. Contact corporate executives. The on-site team will be in the thick of things from the start. Tie in corporate executives immediately. This executive immersion promotes organizationwide accountability and enables businesses like Pitney Bowes to tap into their nationwide resources to resolve problems swiftly. Local or on-site management might be in the best position to react to the situation at hand. Corporate personnel can gather the necessary resources to help ensure that on-site management has access to those resources.
6. Notify customers. The best relationships are built on trust and, in a disaster, that trust can be a source of strength. Share information early and often so there are few surprises and no recriminations on the road back to normalcy. Personal outreach from senior manager to senior manager
goes a long way toward instilling confidence.
7. Contact recovery partners. Reach out to resources that can keep the infrastructure together, if necessary, while the business continuity team focuses on delivering services and keeping customers happy. You may need to engage data warehouse resources, building security firms and key vendors to provide stopgap assistance.
8. Move to a secure location. When the physical plant is no longer operable, or the building site presents dangers to personnel, move all personnel to a preplanned secure location. At this time, off-site data centers take over business critical processing.
9. Communicate. This is a mantra that cannot be repeated enough. Foster open dialog between on-site staff and the corporate business continuity team. Reach out to customers early on and follow up with periodic updates.
10. Begin restoration of services. Even while the
disaster is unfolding, restore service quickly by following the business continuity plan.
3. Follow up and fine tune
After the initial shock recedes and immediate customer needs are met, maintain momentum for the entire recovery process. There’s no point in winning the battle over a disaster to lose the war on recovery. A comprehensive business continuity plan will continue through these post-event projects:
• Physical plant replacement/rebuild. Disasters impact buildings and the materials inside, so the plan must include procedures and budget guidelines for decisions regarding when to replace and when to rebuild. On-site staff must identify the needs for repair or replacement and coordinate efforts with corporate management.
• Keep open lines of communication with corporate staff. Cooperation between on-site personnel and corporate representatives can speed up the return to normalcy and demonstrate to employees that everything is under control.
• Maintain ongoing communications with employees and customers. Throughout the recovery, they may feel vulnerable. Provide regular updates on the building repair. Let staff know when they will be able to get back into a refurbished building or where they will be relocated. Keep customers reassured that their products and data are secure and service will continue.
• Focus communications on major customers. Identify a designated point of contact to ensure consistent and reliable communications. Funnel all questions and answers through these staff contacts.
• File insurance claims quickly. Work hand-in-hand with insurance companies so claims can be processed in a timely, accurate manner. Keep careful records of the status and repair of all materials. As necessary, help customers with any additional backup they may need for insurance claims.
• Provide customers with confirmation of recovery and destruction. When you manage data and other secure items for customers, it’s critical that there be no security breach. That extends to confirming which materials were completely recovered and which were destroyed.
• Conduct a review of the incident. Publish the detailed findings as a lessons learned document for the business continuity planning team. Share the executive summary with senior management and provide customers with lessons learned to allay any remaining anxieties.
• Reflect, refine and revise. Though you can be satisfied that your business continuity plan was well implemented and avoided costly, long-term impact to your company, it’s always wise to adjust the written document, incorporating real-life lessons into a previously hypothetical plan.
• Know your contractual obligations. Review each contract and clearly communicate your obligations to team members.
• Remain vigilant. Your business came through the disaster with flying colors, thanks to a well planned, well executed business continuity plan. But don’t rest on your laurels — be ready for the next time.
Preparing for the Unexpected
Successful business continuity planning is a long-term corporate commitment. Planning takes much advanced work, assessing risk, identifying resources and generating detailed protocols. But as the incident at Pitney Bowes’ mail services center in the Dallas-Fort Worth area demonstrated, a fully trained staff, which is accustomed to making decisions, complying with a formal business continuity plan meant the difference between effective response and a complete breakdown in customer service.
Jay Oxton is president of mail services for Pitney Bowes Inc.
