BT Business Continuity Quick Start Service

Transcription

1 BT Business Continuity Quick Start Service Business continuity management, service availability and the ongoing assessment of business risk are essential activities for organisations. The BT Business Continuity Quick Start service enables you to assess your current resilience and recovery capabilities against recognised best practice and relevant standards such as BS BT was one of the first organisations to achieve certification to BS :2007 and this invaluable experience is brought to bear to your advantage. By analysing and identifying areas for improvement, BT will help you improve the resilience of your organisation s infrastructure and business processes, and at the same time help maximise your investment in business continuity related products and services.

2 About the BT Business Continuity Quick Start Service The importance of business continuity In an increasingly uncertain world, business continuity and crisis management capabilities are now more relevant than ever. They allow the mission critical functions of an organisation to continue operating during and after a disruptive event. Natural disasters, network intrusions, human error, security and terrorist concerns the list of threats to organisations keeps getting longer. In today s integrated digital networked economy, even a few hours of service disruption can have a devastating impact. In a recent Forrester survey 1, business continuity and disaster recovery was identified in 56% of major enterprises as the most critical concern for senior executives. Governance and regulatory requirements, compliance against standards (such as the recognised Business Continuity Management standard, BS 25999), supply chain concerns, the looming threat of pandemic influenza, and the potential impact on revenue, brand and reputation, have all helped move business continuity higher on the boardroom agenda. Organisations are now realising that existing plans and procedures may no longer be adequate in light of these new threats. Recent experience has shown that lack of preparation for less frequent but high impact events, such as flooding or the Buncefield fuel depot explosion in the UK, can quickly result in an unacceptable impact on an organisation even total operational failure. BS BS is the first ever British Standard that establishes the process, principles and terminology of Business Continuity Management (BCM). Developed by a range of expert practitioners from across the globe, it provides the basis to understand, measure and implement business continuity within any organisation regardless of its size. Measurement, benchmarking and certification to BS will provide assurance that your organisation is prepared to meet the range of events that could threaten its ability to operate, or even survive. Why use the BT Quick Start Service? Effective business continuity management requires a careful understanding of the appropriate mix of people, process, technology, information and supplies in delivering mission critical activities. Often it is the inability to thoroughly assess these factors and identify weaknesses that leads to poor management of disruption something that can escalate to threaten the very existence of the organisation. The BT Business Continuity Quick Start service is a carefully designed mix of consultancy, professional services, products and solutions, that can help put your organisation on the front foot with business continuity planning, delivery and management. Why BT? Identified by Gartner 2 as being a full service provider of business continuity solution capabilities, BT is uniquely placed to deliver the full range of business continuity solutions to any organisation. Practical experience With decades of experience designing, building and managing resilient global communications networks, BT has already achieved full BS certification for its national 21st Century Network (21CN) project. BT is therefore able to draw upon an unrivalled level of knowledge and expertise in this area, to advise and implement business continuity and risk reduction within an organisation in-line with the latest standards and best practice. International presence In addition to our experience, BT s global presence provides a breadth and depth of coverage that few can rival. With 35,000 people in 50 countries, BT is a truly international company which is able to provide service and support in over 170 countries worldwide. Technical expertise BT has a Global Continuity and Security practice with full-time, qualified practitioners and consultants who are members or associates of the Business Continuity Institute and other related professional bodies. BT provides a full end-to-end service, incorporating a broad range of professional and managed services across the whole of the business continuity life cycle. Strategic partnerships BT has extensive strategic partnerships with the world s leading market vendors. BT takes business continuity and disaster recovery, as well as effective governance, extremely seriously. As a result, BT works with many national and international organisations to develop and implement their own robust business continuity arrangements. 1 Forrester: Enterprise Infrastructure Adoption, Oct Gartner presentation Greg Young Business Continuity Management Today: From Storms to Blackouts to Terrorism Sept 2004; page 19

3 The process Status checklist The Quick Start service starts with a high-level checklist which enables us to understand your business continuity arrangements and recommends an appropriate starting point. This non-technical questionnaire can be completed by any senior manager who is familiar with your current BCM capabilities. The checklist: l Provides an initial high-level overview of your BCM capability l Allows you to compare your BCM capability with recognised standards like BS l Enables you to consider the appropriate next steps There are two levels of Quick Start available. Level One offers a choice of focused workshops, to suit your business needs. All offer an introduction to business continuity and planning for disruptive events. Level Two is for those with more mature business continuity arrangements in place, or for those who have already completed Level One. The assessment modules help evaluate an organisation s business continuity planning against best practice and standards. Level One (approx 1-3 days) With the Level One workshop(s), your organisation could undertake a high-level assessment of the areas that require investigation; gain assurance, as well as a transfer of skills and knowledge; understand how your business fairs in relation to recognised standards. Business Continuity Quick Start, Level One Workshops The objective is to establish your current business continuity planning and develop a clear understanding of the required action needed thereafter. This engagement uses a blend of interactive workshops and presentations, with subsequent analysis and management reporting where appropriate. The workshops available are shown in the following table. Offering Description Output Timeframe Business Continuity Review Workshop BS Expert Briefing Pandemic Planning and Response Workshop Interactive workshop involving senior managers and process owners, to assess an organisations business continuity management capability benchmarked against best practice and relevant management standards. For those organisations wishing to exploit BS 25999, the Expert Briefing provides an insight into the terminology and essentials of BS Parts 1 and 2, including the BCM life cycle, establishing, maintaining and improving a business continuity management system and the certification process. A pandemic represents a distinct threat to organisations and the characteristics of likely disruption differ greatly from other events which are generally shorter term in duration and effect. The Pandemic Planning and Response Workshop will identify the significant issues and subsequent areas for improvement. l Management Report detailing findings, conclusions & recommendations l Skills & knowledge transfer l Awareness of key issues and best practice l Outline action plan l Skills & knowledge transfer l Awareness of key issues and best practice l Outline action plan l Skills & knowledge transfer l Awareness of key issues and best practice l Outline action plan 1 Day 1 Day 1 Day Crisis Management Workshop The ability of an organisation to successfully manage the outcome of a crisis is dependent on what it does in the acute phase of that incident. Without effective crisis management capabilities an organisation is likely to suffer greater disruption The workshop is an interactive session that will identify significant issues and areas for improvement in crisis management. l Management Report detailing findings, conclusions & recommendations l Skills & knowledge transfer l Awareness of key issues and best practice l Outline action plan 3 Days

4 The process Level Two (approx 1-4 weeks) The Level Two assessment generally takes place over a one to four week period for the majority of organisations, although this is dependent upon the size, module(s) selected and scope of the engagement. Designed to be applicable to a wide range of organisation types and sizes, the modular approach allows the most appropriate area(s) of focus to be selected, and can involve a mix of products and service deliverables. Planning and scoping A brief meeting is held to agree the scope, engagement structure, identify key stakeholders and plan a schedule of future activity. The initial meeting will also identify which modules outlined below are the most appropriate for the assessment. Module #1 Business Continuity Improvement Assessment The Business Continuity Improvement Assessment is a comprehensive and detailed assessment of your existing business continuity management arrangements against accepted best practice as defined by BS and other applicable publications. Using a range of techniques, the assessment will include business impact assessments (BIA), benchmarking, documentation audit, interviews, workshops and physical inspections. Module #2 BS Readiness Assessment For those organisations seeking certification to BS Specification for Business Continuity Management, the readiness assessment module provides a clear gap analysis against the requirements of the specification, demonstrating readiness for a certification audit by an accredited certification body. Module #3 Technical Operational Resilience Assessment Today s organisations rely heavily on IT and communications (ICT) systems. The operational resilience assessment takes a holistic view of existing capabilities and delivers an unambiguous assessment of physical, environmental, system and operational resilience in-line with emerging methodologies and standards. Module #4 Business Continuity Management Planning and Delivery Business Continuity Management planning is a core activity. This module reviews existing strategies against organisational goals, relevant standards, legislation, regulations or even stakeholder requirements,and develops new resilience and recovery strategies. Plans can similarly be analysed for adequacy and developed as required. Transitioning from planning to delivery can include training and awareness, exercising and simulation. Module #5 Incident Response and Crisis Management The Incident Response and Crisis Management module provides you with a range of products and services including in-depth analysis and review of crisis/incident management capabilities, independent verification of capability, media communication training, stakeholder information lines (BT Message Link) and other communications services. Module #6 Resilient Communications and Networks A full range of resilient communication and networking solutions and other communication recovery services including Diverse and Alternate Routing, Exchange Line Site Assurance, Proactive/Directed DDI recovery, highly resilient global VPN (One voice), unified communications solutions and satellite access. This module provides valuable assurance that your communications are able to avoid incidents and recover in a timely and effective manner should the need arise. Module #7 Data Centre Services BT is a leading supplier of Data Centre Services with 11 UK and 58 data centres covering the globe providing managed hosting and tele-housing solutions. BT s strength in multiple IT sector partnerships enables it to provide wide, tailored and truly agnostic hardware and software solutions. Module #8 Mobility and People Resilience The ability to decouple key workers from a dependence on physical locations by using innovative BT mobility solutions such as unified communications, MobileXpress, Field Force Automation, Conferencing, Workstyle and Corporate Fusion convergence solutions provides you with an inherently resilient capability that is able to withstand disruptive events, enabling your people to be effective before, during and after a disruption. Module #9 Workplace and IT Recovery In the event of a disaster, Recover to Home offers a rapid and cost effective service that enables your users to be operational, with minimal disruption to both staff and business. The module offers 24/7 rapid response to IT infrastructure loss of service with responsive, reactive and proactive solutions including emergency ship-to-site of complete or partial IT infrastructure estates, secure hot standby to nationally and globally positioned datacentres, interconnected on a private UK wide data network or global BT MPLS. For loss of access to the office, Workplace Recovery provides facilities in 15 networked UK business recovery locations (8,000 seats).

5 The outcome The BT Business Continuity Quick Start provides you with a clear understanding of your current resilience/recovery capabilities. It highlights a range of effective solutions that can be deployed to support a holistic business continuity strategy, to underpin your organisation s long term objectives. Example of Business Continuity Maturity Model Business Continuity Culture Programme Management Governance 100% Business Continuity/ Disaster Recovery Policy Audit & Maintenance 80% 60% Business Impact Test & Exercise 40% Public Relations & Communications 20 Training Awareness Risk Assessment Crisis Management Team & Crisis Plan Corporate Strategy Recovery Solutions Pandemic Planning Resource Recovery Process Strategy Target rating Industry average Assessed rating

6 Status checklist The following questions will help determine the most effective starting point for a BT Business Continuity Quick Start engagement with your organisation. Please answer Yes, No, or Partially by checking the appropriate box. You can then total your answers in the summary section, which will give you an indication of your current status. 1. BCM programme management Does your organisation have a senior person specifically accountable for BCM? Does that person proactively champion the need for effective BCM? Does your organisation have a dedicated business continuity manager or other person whose sole job is the implementation and maintenance of business continuity arrangements? Does your organisation have a clear policy on BCM? Does your organisation have a specific budget for BCM? Does your organisation have a documented business continuity management system? 2. Understanding the organisation Has your organisation identified key business objectives specifically associated with a major disruptive event? Has your organisation quantified the business impacts of an unplanned interruption over increasing periods of time? Has your organisation identified business critical activities and the processes/resources that support them? Has your organisation identified recovery priorities and recovery timescales for key business processes, services and systems? Have these recovery priorities and recovery timescales been formally agreed at senior level? Has your organisation formally undertaken a risk analysis? 3. Determining business continuity strategy Does your organisation have a current and documented recovery strategy, in the event of a significant or unplanned incident? Does that strategy cover: People? Premises? Technology? Information? Supplies? Stakeholders? Has the recovery strategy been formally agreed with senior management or at board level? Does the strategy encompass civil emergencies and other large-scale incidents? 4. Developing and implementing a Business Continuity Response Has a comprehensive incident response structure been implemented? Have incident management plans been agreed and published? Has a business continuity plan been fully documented? Do incident communications plans provide for effective communications with stakeholders, staff, media, partners, suppliers? Are all critical activities covered in the business continuity plan? Is there a process that requires the business continuity plan to be maintained in a current state to reflect all changes to the business? Is there a nominated owner who is responsible for ensuring consistency, currency updating and maintenance of the business continuity plan? Has the business continuity plan been developed and documented fully involving the employees who would be involved in a real emergency? Are suitable locations (real or virtual) identified for use during an incident?

7 Status checklist 5. Exercising and testing of business continuity plans Is there a process to review and test the business continuity plan on major organisational change or periodically? Have all aspects of the plan been fully tested in the last 12 months? Does testing include desk check, simulation, partial test and full test, including incident management? Have the tests been undertaken by those staff that would be involved in a real emergency? Have the results of the tests been fully documented, with associated corrective action plans for rectification and improvement? 6. Embedding business continuity in the organisation s culture Is there a process for creating business continuity awareness in the organisation? Are key staff members able to attend regular business continuity training? Is there a programme of skills updating and formal qualification, such as accreditation to BCI or DRII? 7. Pandemic preparation Have you carried out an impact assessment for critical human resources in your organisation? Have you determined key skills that are needed to maintain your critical business activities? Have you put into place policies, guidelines and plans that will allow your business to continually operate during, and after, a pandemic? Have you determined the impact on your business of your key suppliers unable to provide essential services and products during a pandemic outbreak? Does the organisation have flexible working policies and processes in place, such as mobile working and home-working? 9. Summary 1. BCM programme management 2. Understanding the organisation 3. Determining business continuity strategy 4. Developing and implementing a BC response 8. BS alignment Are you currently using BS as a means of defining a common and repeatable best practice approach? Is awareness of BS widespread throughout your organisation? Does the organisation currently have a Management System implemented or plans to do so in the future? Is there a requirement for you to become certified to BS 25999? Is there a plan in place for you to proceed to certification to Part 2 (Specification) of BS 25999? Is business continuity management information available on relevant web pages or intranets? Is development of a business continuity culture supported by senior personnel in the organisation? 5. Exercising and testing of business continuity plans 6. Embedding business continuity management in the organisation s culture 7. Pandemic preparation 8. BS alignment

8 Next steps Why BT? The Business Continuity Quick Start service enables organisations to determine their current business continuity status and take remedial action, where required. For some organisations, this may merely be the start of a business continuity journey. As a full service provider of business continuity solutions and capabilities, BT is uniquely placed to deliver a range of business continuity solutions, and can also help support operational risk management and the deployment of Business Continuity and Resilience Capability Business Continuity Management Resilient Communications and Networks Data Centre Services Incident Response and Crisis Management Mobility and Workforce Resilience Workplace and IT Recovery resilient security technologies. Working with you as a trusted business partner, BT can help you identify and meet business continuity priorities, maximise return on investment, and provide you with scalable options to route for maturing its resilience and continuity capabilities. The following is a brief selection of the additional services and integrated business continuity and security solutions available from BT, which could be hugely valuable to your organisation s coordinated continuity planning. l Resilience capability assessments Quick Start Level One l Business Continuity Management Planning and Delivery consultancy utilising accepted best practice and standards Modules 1-4 l Business case support, benchmarking and skills transfer l Solutions in all areas of the business continuity life cycle l Secure and highly dependable IP infrastructure l Full range of resilient circuit routing options l BT s WAN provides the basis for next generation converged solutions with quality of service and reliability l Secure and resilient hosting of client systems in BT data centres l Fail-over service full client system duplicated in BT facility l Storage ( archiving, data vaulting, etc) l Crisis communications solutions that support organisations, warning and informing their stakeholder groups l Comprehensive inbound solutions to enable rapid information dissemination l Crisis management consultancy, capability planning and delivery l Provision of secure mobile communications, enabling location independent operation l Flexible working and home-working solutions to enhance workforce resilience l Mobility consultancy that ensures needs are adequately articulated and investment maximised l Workplace recovery l IT systems recovery l Voice and data recovery services Module 6 Module 7 Quick Start Level One Module 5 Module 8 Module 9 About the BT Quick Start Series BT s Quick Starts are concise, service-led engagements focused on key services and technologies that are of critical importance to organisations within the digital networked economy. These services and technologies combine to form a wider infrastructure model, each representing significant advances and long-term efficiency for the organisations deploying them. The Quick Starts can be used as an integral part of an organisation s roadmap along their development journey. BT Quick Starts enable customers to assess, test, plan and establish the validity of each service or technology in manageable parts. Each Quick Start is formed using defined stages with clear outcomes and will provide the necessary information not only for the technical aspects of deployment, but also for the commercial justification of infrastructure or network changes. What next? We can take you through the benefits and implications that would directly affect your organisation. In addition, we can help to build tangible examples which are more valuable to your business stakeholders. Contact your BT Account Manager to arrange a meeting and discuss how the Business Continuity Quick Start can help your business. Offices worldwide The telecommunications services described in this publication are subject to availability and may be modified from time to time. Services and equipment are provided subject to British Telecommunications plc s respective standard conditions of contract. Nothing in this publication forms any part of any contract. British Telecommunications plc 2008 Registered office: 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ Registered in England No Designed by Loewy: London PHME 53203