One year on from Hurricane Ivan: what lessons have been learnt? What happened? Lessons learned * Greater emphasis should be placed on crisis management in relation to the human and social upheaval that a major hurricane causes. Coupled with this, staff should be encouraged to develop a personal crisis management plan that takes into account themselves, their family, and even their pets. * Particularly problematic was the inability to maintain communication with staff and key stakeholders, as island-wide fixed line telephone services became inoperable due to the destruction of the island’s primary telecommunications landing station during the storm. This became a major issue for organisations in three aspects: firstly, in verifying the health and welfare of staff; secondarily, as they attempted to operate in crisis management mode; and thirdly, in beginning salvage and restoration activities. In this regard, technology could have been better deployed to assist the communication process, such as automated notification systems that send messages and updates via multiple media platforms (e.g. text, telephone), to keep staff informed. * The loss of international voice and data services was devastating for those organisations which designed disaster recovery strategies and information technology platforms that were reliant on hardware platforms located in the Cayman Islands. Indeed, many companies moved to overseas jurisdictions such as the United States or United Kingdom, as well as to other Caribbean destinations, where they were able to operate, in some cases for an extended period of time. Many pieced together a technology platform on the fly with some businesses literally loading their key servers onto an evacuation plane along with staff – hardly best practice for risk controls. * Many companies ignored the human aspects of regional recovery planning, and are currently struggling with retaining staff who have become disillusioned, feeling that their employers could have taken greater action to address their emergency needs, such as faster processing of expenses, staff loans, and time off to deal with personal issues. * These hard learned lessons stress the need for robust evacuation plans as part of a business continuity programme. In advance, businesses need to decide who among their staff should remain on-island during a hurricane, and who should leave to assist with the functioning of the organisation abroad. * Another very apparent trend was that businesses that were geographically dispersed, within the Cayman Islands and overseas, fared better both during and after Ivan. This was found to echo the US Securities and Exchange Commission ‘Interagency Paper on Sound Practices to Strengthen the Resilience of the US Financial System’ (2003), which advised organisations to implement resilient infrastructure and adopt split site processing. Organisations that already had this infrastructure in place were typically able to respond quicker to, and recover faster from, the effects of Ivan. * In light of a number of local service providers delivering a reduced level of service resulting in unsatisfied customers. Service level agreements and critical vendor risk assessments are now seen as essential due diligence in the identification of potential exposures, and clear definition of service expectations. * There is now a greater appreciation for business continuity and crisis management plan maintenance and testing programmes in Cayman, not only to familiarise staff, but to provide confidence that the teams, technology, and procedures are capable of working when they need to. * It became apparent that many organisations had not previously given sufficient consideration to a chain of command that could operate during times of crises, yet remain flexible enough to function with key decision makers being unavailable or out of communication. Organisations are now placing greater emphasis on the need for comprehensive succession planning, which ensures that adequate levels of knowledge and expertise exist within the organisation, or can be drafted in, during times of emergency. In conclusion, for those organisations impacted by Hurricane Ivan, the implementation and testing of recovery technology, teams and procedures are being seen as of utmost importance in ensuring that all business continuity goals are soundly met. Organisations are seeking clear demonstration of response and recovery capabilities from themselves as well as their key third-party service providers. The integration of critical operational and physical components into the overall approach is being seen as essential to ensuring effective crisis management and business continuity. Organisations who now have a greater appreciation for the loss of control associated with a major natural disaster are taking the time to communicate these policies, plans, and procedures to staff, so that they are able to respond more effectively next time. Torrin Stafford is the business continuity leader for Deloitte and Touche (Deloitte) in the Caribbean. He is professionally certified to practice crisis management and business continuity in the Caribbean, in North America (CBCP) and in Europe (MBCI). He has over 8 years experience as a managing consultant with many articles published within the business continuity industry and international press, as well as delivered management training seminars in North America, Europe and the Caribbean. Currently he is preparing his dissertation towards a Masters of Science in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management, which focuses on the organisational learning as a result of Hurricane Ivan. He can be contacted at tstafford@deloitte.com or via + 1 (345) 814-3354. Deloitte has one of the largest compliments of staff in Grand Cayman, with over 175, and over 170,000 people globally. Local services include audit, tax, consulting, financial advisory services, and enterprise risk services.
•Date: 14th October 2005 •Region: Caribbean •Type:
Article •Topic: BC general |
