Financial Software Provider

The Challenge

Our client’s customers typically require high service availability as they are dependent upon the software to manage their customers’ financial interests. It is imperative that any changes and updates to the software are performed timeously and without interruption to normal service.

From an IT disaster recovery perspective, the client recognised that technically the solution was good, and therefore they were well positioned to recover resources. However, in the event of there being an incident causing unavailability of any of the offices, it was important to explore how priority services could continue to be delivered.

Should there be an unexpected loss of resource (premises, people, information, technology, suppliers), the client wanted to understand what their critical activities were, attribute recovery time objectives (RTOs) to them and identify/clarify the minimum resources required to keep critical activities going.

The client was keen to ensure that relevant documentation and an incident management structure was in place to take away any uncertainties and that pre-incident actions were taken forward to shore up the recovery solution.

Whilst much had been achieved in-house, the client realised they had reached a point where bringing in independent specialist support was required to help link up existing disaster recovery processes with business continuity expectations.

The Solution

Teed’s consultant initially met with the client to understand the organisation, the services it provides and the infrastructure and technology upon which it depends to deliver those services.

A business impact analysis (BIA) method was developed and a series of interviews with business representatives from all three offices were facilitated to determine critical activities and resource requirements. The findings from the BIA were delivered to the client clearly showing the gaps between what the business required and what was achievable based on the current capability and resilience.

Once our consultant had identified the gaps, it was possible through further discussion with relevant business representatives to determine the appropriate options and costs for putting a business continuity solution in place that would meet both business and customer requirements.

A business continuity plan was then documented clearly showing the business priorities, minimum resource requirements and overall business continuity strategy. This was subsequently validated through a tabletop business continuity exercise for the newly formed Incident Management Team. The exercise not only provided assurance that the plan and associated recovery strategies were appropriate, but also served to raise awareness of incident management roles and responsibilities.

The Result

The client can now be confident of its ability to maintain services at acceptable levels in the event of a disruption that causes a loss of resource. With many programmers and developers employed to deliver its unique software offering, it would not take much to impact upon the credibility of the tool. This is recognised by the leadership team during business as usual and business continuity helps to ensure that unusual events can also be dealt with.

By engaging Teed to manage this project, the client was able to draw upon our consultant’s specialist input and skills to put in place an appropriate solution which not only utilised existing processes, but highlighted other cost-effective workarounds and contingencies that could be brought into play.

Upon completion of the project, Teed provided independent confirmation of the client’s business continuity preparedness which is used to satisfy customers and stakeholders that effective business continuity management is in place. This has also been beneficial for the client when renewing contracts and tendering for new contracts.