Business continuity comes into its own Following yesterday's terrorist attacks many companies and City organisations placed their business continuity facilities on standby. SunGard reported that it successfully handled more than 25 invocations. IBM and ICM recovery centres were also active. Specific business continuity actions that have been reported include: * Cable & Wireless evacuated offices (Financial Times) * BNP Paribas and Barclays were among companies hiring fleets of buses to help workers get out of the city at the end of the working day. (Financial Times) * BNP and others activated emergency block-bookings of hotel rooms for those staff unable to make it home. (Financial Times) * The London Stock Exchange asked dealers to turn off certain computer-driven trading systems to minimise swings in the market as the FTSE 100 index of top companies fell by more than 200 points. But the market soon stabilised and business remained brisk through the day. (The Guardian) * UBS evacuated one office but continued trading from its four other London sites, while staff at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Goldman Sachs were advised to stay inside. (The Guardian) * Swiss Re, which is located close to the site of one of the blasts continued operating as normal. "We have been taking our lead from the emergency services and encouraging staff to stay in the building," a spokeswoman said. (The Guardian) * The London Metal Exchange said trading had been carried out electronically and by phone. "We could not start our usual trading procedures because traders were kept out of the building by the exclusion zone," a spokesman said. (The Guardian) * The London Clearing House, which handles important administrative functions for a number of London's markets, was evacuated in the morning but its business was soon restarted at a disaster recovery site. (The Guardian) * BankServ issued the following crisis communications statement: "In the aftermath of today's deadly attacks in London, BankServ International would like to reassure our clients that our network has remained intact, and that service to all of our customers around the globe will continue uninterrupted. Although two of the explosions occurred within 400 yards of BankServ's London support center, thankfully, none of our employees were harmed, and our operations were able to continue as normal. "Today's terrorist outrage has once again, in the most tragic circumstances, underlined the importance of business continuity planning. "We cannot ever undo the damage that has been wrought on so many lives. But we can at least ensure that, as busines speople, we are prepared to handle disaster and will not let terrorists achieve the economic damage they seek to inflict," said Dave Kvederis, CEO of BankServ." Business Continuity Institute statement on the events of 7th July 2005. Business continuity management has also been effective with few companies remaining in crisis mode today (Friday 8 th July). We understand that at least 100 companies put their disaster recovery plans on standby. Human tragedy is the overwhelming key factor of the events of the 7 th July and continued support for staff and clients will be required in organisations including responding agencies. Confidence in London and esprit de corps of staff will inspire customers, showing that companies prepared for all eventualities can be relied upon even under exceptional and difficult circumstances. Andy Tomkinson, Chair of the BCI Marketing and Communications Committee This page will be updated as more reports are received.
•Date: 8th July 2005 • Region: UK • Type:
Article •Topic:
Business continuity general |
