Relocation sites – what are the different options available?
This was a question that came up recently during a presentation I was giving. There are a lot of different options, and you need to figure out what is best for your organization. Whatever you choose, make sure you practice working from the alternate location. Especially if you’re planning on working from home.
Feedback from BCP Builder Community on LinkedIn:
Case Study
What options are available for a call-center when there is no alternate location or recovery back up? They can’t work from home because they don’t have laptops.
- It is important to start phasing in laptops, budget for however many you can afford each year and your ability to work remotely will slowly increase.
- Establish a reciprocal agreement with other organizations. This means using other organizations work space when your business faces emergencies and vice versa .
- Choose a vendor who can provide you with work space and IT systems during an emergency situation.
Workplace Recovery Sites
- Have backup seats ready for your critical applications at other locations. If you can’t use your own alternate sites use a Workplace Recovery Site like Sungard. All other staff can work from home but be sure your IT network is up for it. If necessary, staff should be able to work from home using their own device in times of crisis. This is because not everyone will have their company device at home. You can also make an exchange deal with surrounding companies to use their site to have crisis meetings.
- Regus’ Dynamic Recovery Model gives an organization guaranteed seats as well as flexibility to choose from multiple sites depending on the crisis coverage. It is an “employee centric” model giving employees the option to work from a facility closer to their home. A great option which is not at all expensive. Definitely worth considering.
Hot/ Warm/ Cold Sites
Classify your fail-over/ relocation sites first and plan accordingly based on the scenario.
- Hot: A site where you already have existing technology, resources and skill-sets where you can immediately fail-over your process/ workload
- Warm: A site where technology is configured and capacity is available (at some times minimum capacity is available). Resources may be transported to this location, if it’s within the same geographic area. If it’s outside the geographic area, then you may need to find a location with similar skill-sets
- Cold: infrastructure is available, but requires configuration of technology and gathering of resources and skill-sets.
- By understanding this, you will be able to better plan and understand your recovery capabilities and the time you are able to be operational with the calculated capacity.
Planning for all Staff
- When planning your recovery site, it is important to remember that not all staff will be able bodied. The physical, psychological and social needs of staff should be factored into a business continuity plan. If a business continuity plan is holistic and bespoke, even the most disabled staff can relocate and operate effectively.
- You should check the facilities at the relocation site will meet the needs of all staff members. The logistics of relocation should also be considered, including appropriate transport options.
Exercise your Plan
- Exercising is very important to any options selected. The same strategy will not work for all organizations.
- The most important thing is to identify what will work well for your business/organization/company at any given time.
Communication
- Plans need to be implemented to ensure the customer, brand partner, supplier etc. are informed. This is a proactive measure to ensure damage limitation to the reputation and financial aspect of the crisis.
If you want to increase your Organizational Resilience, start with preparing a Business Continuity Plan and check out BCP Builder’s Business Continuity Planning Templates.
