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Continuity Central has been frequently asked for case studies showing business continuity ‘in action’. The following is the first in a series of such studies. It explores an invocation by Watson Wyatt, the global consulting firm, which was supported by SunGard Availability Services in the UK.
About Watson Wyatt
Watson Wyatt is a global consulting firm that advises on human capital and financial management. It specialises in five areas: employee benefits, human capital strategies, investment, technology solutions and insurance and financial services. It can trace its roots back to the oldest actuarial firm in the world - R Watson & Sons, founded in 1878.
It is the trusted business partner to the world’s leading organisations. In fact, Watson Wyatt serves more of the world’s 300 largest pension plans than any other consulting firm.
Watson Wyatt ‘at a glance’:
- Watson Wyatt advises many of the world’s leading organisations on people and financial issues.
- It has 7,000 employees and operates in 32 countries.
- The firm has nine offices and 1,700 employees in the UK based in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester, Redhill, Reigate and Welwyn.
- Watson Wyatt has been a SunGard customer since 2002, contracting to Workplace Recovery, QuickShip recovery of hardware and Electronic Vaulting services
- Collapse of a nearby building forced the firm’s London office to relocate to SunGard’s South Bank Recovery Campus
- A smooth recovery meant Watson Wyatt’s clients were virtually unaware of any business interruption.
Invocation
On Wednesday 12 June 2007 at around 1600 hrs, employees working at Watson Wyatt’s London office in Tothill Street, SW1 heard a loud explosion, which many feared to be a bomb. However, Watson Wyatt’s incident response team quickly established that the cause was the partial collapse of a five-storey building that had been undergoing renovation work in neighbouring Dean Farrar Street.
Around 50 fire fighters, six fire engines and two fire and rescue units raced to the scene where a building worker was trapped under the rubble. Scaffolding was erected to stabilise the stricken building, streets in the surrounding area were cordoned off and Watson Wyatt’s 475 London-based staff were instructed to stay on the premises until given the all clear by the emergency services. At 1800 hrs staff were told that it was safe to leave the building.
As veterans of several incidents and security scares - the London bombings in 2005, a widespread power outage in 2006 and the Bristol floods of 2007 to name just a few - Watson Wyatt had well rehearsed disaster recovery strategies. Its crisis management team, supported by the incident response and departmental teams, swung into action.
By 1900 hours both the managing consultant for the London office and the local facilities manager were in discussion with the authorities. They learned that a mountain of debris had completely blocked the fire exit at the rear of the premises, which opened onto Dean Farrar Street. It was still possible for individuals to get in and out of the entrance to Watson Wyatt’s offices on Tothill Street but the scaffolding, road cordons, cranes and numerous emergency vehicles meant that the road was narrowed to just a few feet and access was severely restricted.
At 1915 hours the decision was taken to invoke SunGard’s services and staff were informed that they should report for work the next day to their primary SunGard Workplace Recovery Centre at Paris Garden, just 2.4 km away.
Watson Wyatt understands the importance of communication, particularly in a crisis situation, and had wisely established several channels to keep staff fully informed of developments and where they should work as the situation progressed. These included credit card-sized emergency instructions and key contacts, recorded updates on a dedicated dial-in contact line, emails via BlackBerrys and a separate website hosted outside the firm’s normal IT environment.
A successful recovery
SunGard’s experienced technicians worked through the night to set up the recovery suite so that when Watson Wyatt’s staff arrived for work the following morning, they had access to 220 workplace positions equipped with PCs, printers and telephony - complete with Direct Dial Inbound (DDI) capability - that fully met their needs.
As some consultants were attending meetings outside the office and others chose to work from home, around 220 employees relocated to Paris Garden. Watson Wyatt had only reserved 212 seats but SunGard was able to give the firm the additional eight positions it required at its peak.
The proximity of the Paris Garden Recovery Centre to Waterloo station made it ideally located for those travelling to and from Watson Wyatt’s Reigate office. The well-equipped facility meant that staff felt comfortable and were able to work productively in their temporary home.
The timing could not have been worse for Watson Wyatt: it had less than one week to close its books down for the year-end accounting deadline and US members of the main Board were making a visit to see its UK operation. But the fast, smooth recovery meant that Watson Wyatt was able to conduct business as normal - to the extent that, until they were told, its clients were not even aware of the temporary relocation. In fact, it wasn’t until two days after the event that one client casually enquired whether the firm had been affected by the building collapse he’d seen on the news!
Watson Wyatt ultimately stayed with SunGard for eight days while the trapped worker was freed, the building was made safe, rubble cleared away and roads re-opened.
The UK arm of the company has faced several incidents in recent years but this was the first time it had needed to invoke.
Moving forward
The incident justifies Watson Wyatt’s business continuity strategy, which is predicated on planning for loss of building, systems and data.
As a result of lessons learned from the incident the company is making some very minor changes:
- Getting the balance right - Watson Wyatt is reviewing the number of seats it has contracted and the mix between shared and dedicated positions.
- Helping staff feel at home - Watson Wyatt’s highly detailed recovery plan included a crib sheet for its recovery site team to help familiarise themselves with facilities in the SunGard building. This covered everyday aspects such as how to use the phone system and the location of facilities. It proved so helpful that it will be given to all staff relocating to a recovery centre in future.
- Planning for paper records - The incident occurred at a time when Watson Wyatt was dependent on its paper records to meet its year-end accounting deadline. It devised a system to transfer the necessary documentation between its premises and the recovery site but it is revising its plans slightly to allow space to accommodate the large volume of paper files that may be needed during an invocation.
www.watsonwyatt.com/europe
www.sungard.co.uk
Got a case study that you think we should publish? Email editor@continuitycentral.com with details.
•Date: 29th February 2008• Region:UK •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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