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Business Continuity—everybody’s concern
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Wuest, director, operations support, Pacific Life Insurance Company, shares his experiences in the creation and implementation of business resumption planning for his organization. |
The random aspect of disasters—manmade or natural—makes any organization at risk. Unpredictable and unsettling, disasters are variable in intensity—from downed electrical lines to a destroyed site. Any level of disaster can happen at any time to any organization. The issue of business continuity—and the importance of a top-drawer business continuity plan—is of vital importance to all consumer affairs professionals, regardless of product line or industry. Why? Because a tightly constructed business continuity plan with the appropriate consumer communications elements can make or break a consumer affairs office after a disaster.
Alan Wuest, director of support services at Pacific Life walked ICAE participants through the elements of the comprehensive business recovery/continuity plan.
Wuest pointed out that any comprehensive business continuity plan must include detailed
- Business Resumption/Disaster Recovery plans,
- Business Impact Analysis (BIA),
- Business recovery mapping,
- Business recovery communication, and
- Procedures for all levels of disaster drills.
Why involve consumer affairs in the planning? Wuest discussed that consumer affairs professionals are in the best possible position to know what customers expect and need, can help with agency expectations, can assist with compliance knowledge and, frequently, have significant producer or vendor relationships that can be especially important after a disaster. The knowledge pool of consumer affairs professionals is of vital importance when constructing a comprehensive business resumption plan.
Important distinctions
The presentation delineated the difference between business resumption (a business-centric activity that involves the recovery of key business processes including manual work-arounds and procedures as well as internal/external communications) and disaster recovery (a technology-based activity that involves the recovery of business-critical systems, including telephones, network and the mainframe).
Prioritization
As with any business project, the first step in establishing a well-constructed business continuity plan is to prioritize assessments and needs. Wuest explained that complex business function interdependencies could cause a business continuity plan to take up to 18 months to establish. Once established, the plan can be updated quarterly (Wuest recommends that human resources be responsible for updating call trees and identifying resources when there is a change with a key individual).
Consumer affairs input
Although consumer affairs professionals might have limited input on the technical side of business continuity processes, they would have great knowledge on many contacts, including:
- Customer Service,
- Marketing Communications,
- Outgoing Disbursements, and
- Claims Processing.
Call to action
Wuest encouraged all Exchange participants to be fully apprised about their organization’s business resumption plans. He also encouraged consumer affairs professionals to provide input to help with consumer communications in the event a plan would need to be put into action.
Click here to view Alan Wuest’s PowerPoint presentation.
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