Risk Management Business Contingency Plan Essay Example for Free

Risk Management p bentage Contingency Plan EssayThe qualitative risk analysis performed in a previous embrace identified eight notable risks associated with setting up a c altogether- concentre presence in Qubec, Canada. As those risks ar successfully managed, the phone oculus entrust commence operation and starting line handling telephonic insurance requests from mostly communicative guests. (Only one-quarter of employees at this center bequeath handle English-speaking calls from Canadian clients.)Beca apply there entrust be a sole call center in Canada handling 100 percent of the communicative calls and one-quarter of English-speaking calls, it exit be imperative to establish a business contingency plan, or BCP. Because of the aforesaid(prenominal) propensity for native disasters in Canada, this plan will address continuity of business in the matter of a inborn disaster, such as a cranny. The specific atomic number 18as of business continuity to be tempered argon1. Pre-incident adjustments,2. Ethical use and protection of sensitive entropy,3. Ethical use and protection of client entropy,4. discourse plan, and5. Post-incident continuity.The goal of this plan is to reduce pandemonium associated with innate(p) disasters effects on normative business operations.Pre-Incident AdjustmentsIt is all-important(prenominal) to understand the principal components that contri excepte to the locomotion of a well-functioning call center. These components include1. A functioning telephony-delivery system, in addition kn admit as a PSTN2. A functioning lucreing system for information sharing3. A operative group of computers for customer do working4. A functioning electrical systemThere argon early(a) less-crucial components that contribute to a normative operational environment, such as fax capabilities and office equipment. The focus, however, will be on major components.It is obvious that a call center requires the business leader to man age inbound and outward calls. A tornado of any strength has a high likelihood of disrupting this call management ability. (Please reexamination the risk register and attendant risk report for more information on the level of badness and likelihood.)Public Switch Telephone NetworkThe call center is dependent on a usual switch telephone electronic network, or PSTN. This is an array of externally managed networks employed to deliver calls throughout the world this network uses coaxial cables, fiber optics, land lines, and satellite intercourse to support conference. A graphic disaster drive out physically affect this aspect of the communication network, which effectively prevents the delivery of calls to the call centers own internal automatic call-delivery system, or ACD. This is an obvious impediment to the nature of a call center.Networking SystemIn order for call-center employees to make and receive calls, the PSTN must deliver the calls to the call centers networking sys tem, which comprises the business telephone system, or PABX, and high-speed data delivery lines, such as ISDN. If a tornado affects the PSTN, the call centers networking system for call delivery would be useless, and no calls would be delivered or could be do. If the tornado damaged the call-center structure, the networking system would also fail, not only preventing the handling of calls but the appropriate transmission of data. If there argon onsite servers or mainframes, they may also be damaged.Functioning ComputersComputers are required in any aspect of call-center operation. Front-line employees stomachnot process calls or customer requests without access to a computer. Information-technology workers stomachnot support the existing call-center network without a computer to interface with the network. A direct impact of a tornado would most likely smash a significant number of workstations, ca employ elevated levels of inefficiency and the inability to meet customer needs .Functioning computers and network lines are also important for what is referred to as the Intra-Day Management Team. This team is amenable for 1) the proper routing of calls to call-center legates based on their skill setreferred to skill-set gatingand 2) managing the call-center employees phone and off-the-phone schedulesreferred to adherence and conformance. Damage to telephone lines, networking structures, and computers prevents the proper support of the call-center employees, which results in disoriented commitments with telephonic customers.Functioning Electrical SystemThe electrical system is managed by the public-utilities company of the local area. If a tornado sufficiently damaged this entity to prevent the consistent delivery of electricity to the call center, there may be a disruption to the ability to make and receive calls as well as process data. The call center employs confirmup power generators in such an instance, but these generators provide eight hours of pow er. In intrinsic disasters, it is not unlikely that utilities companies will be able to restore service within weeks.For all(prenominal) of the communications components appointed above, ground do work should establish a call-routing process to handle inbound and outbound calls in exigent situations. Call routing simply means that a national Intra-Day Management Team, a team that manages the general statistics generated fromall State originates call centers and that supersedes the authority of local intra-day management teams, would direct calls from the Canadian center to any number of call centers in the United States.In theory, this concept is simple Calls are routed to a random call center for processing. In reality, the execution of this process is complicated. State elevates call centers house voxs with specific skill sets, with some call centers sharing boilers suit skill-set attributes with separates. For example, State conjure ups call center in Jacksonville, Fl orida, shares the alike skill set as its Tempe, Arizona, location. However, four other call centers house representatives that, internal to from each one call center, are multi-skilled and, external to other call centers, do not share the same skill set.For example, the Phoenix call center houses customer-service representatives and claims representativestwo mutually single(a) skill sets within one call center. The Utah call center houses Spanish-speaking risk-management representatives and non-polyglot underwriting professionals. The call centers are dissimilar in the skill attributes and overall functioning.Depending on the call volume handled by the damaged Canadian call center and based on the distinctions in the antecedent paragraph, routing Canadian customers to American centers can1. Be tedious to find the appropriate representatives in the call centers to handle the calls 2. Be a negative incline on the call centers existing metrics it is required to meet.The latter diff iculty is notable, since each call center is required to meet specific service-level agreements set forth by operations managers at the national level. These service-level agreements comprise call statistics, such as average speed of answer, average hold date for calls answered, abandon rate (number of calls that disconnect onward being answered), etc. These agreements do not account for natural disasters, so with the introduction of, for example, 400 calls to a particular call center, that call centers ability to meet its own service-level agreements will mostlikely be constrained. Considering the nature of service-level agreements is to ensure that telephonic customers are responded to within a reasonable clock time frame, the customer experience will decline, which will result in lower customer-satisfaction results. This reality correlates with lower profit-maximization opportunities customers who must wait what they deem to be an interminable tote up of time to have a reques t processed will be more likely to choose a competitor, such as All State, for their insurance needs.Another notable concern is that the Canadian call center answers mostly French-speaking calls. There are currently no other centers nationwide that have French-speaking representatives. At present, customers routed to other customer-service call centers would speak with customer-service representatives who would use a language vendor State Farm employs, ATT Language Line. With the assistance of a language professional from the vendors company, the State Farm representative can successfully handle the call. However, statistics demonstrate that these calls are extensively longer and negatively influence the customer experience.It is recommended, therefore, that State Farm seek to employ bilingual representatives throughout its call centers. Human resources would be responsible for managing this proactive initiative.Ethical Use and Protection of DataState Farm houses a staggering amount of proprietary sensitive data. This data must be ethically used and protected. Some examples of this sensitive data is call-center statistics that can expose the employee identification numbers of the Canadian call-center employees human-resources information systems, or HRIS, containing employee records and financial records of all payments made to vendors.The call-center statistics are stored onsite on a server. The reason for the onsite storage is the ready access to read and write to this information. Call-center statistics reposition constantly. For example, the average speed of answer will vary daily, depending on the call volume.The HRIS is also stored onsite on the same server that houses the call-center statistics. The reason that this data is resident on the same server as the call-center statistics is that they are interdependent. The HRIS will contain information on the results of previous-years performance evaluation however, this performance-review data cannot be pro perly curated without input from call-center statistics. As an example, State Farm can justifiably offer a 10-percent salary increase to an employee because that employee met the calls-handled-per-hour metric, which is culled from call-center statistics. Technically, this data can be discretely stored, but an attention to efficiency demands otherwise. Pulling data sets from one location is more businesslike than doing so from discrete locations.The call center has many vendor relationships, all of which require payment to wield the contractual relationships. For example, all office equipment, excluding computers, is leased through Ricoh International. The call center makes quarterly lease payments for the use of this equipment. This is a financial relationship that requires each element be tracked and stored for evaluate-reporting purposes. This data is housed in a separate server onsite. The reason for onsite storage is ready access to reading and writing to this data. Similar t o call-center statistics, this data constantly changes, so onsite storage offers an efficient way of handling this data.In the event of a natural disaster, the call center must adopt a data-redundancy mindset. Specifically, State Farm must house this data at a separate location, preferably in a different country. Doing so ensures that if a natural disaster were to affect all of Canada, this data, which is stored in Salt Lake City, would still maintain its integrity and can be readily accessed by American call centers that would temporarily manage the calls.Also, when housed offsite, the data should be maintained in the same fashion as it is onsite. Call-center statistics and HRIS data should be housed together due to their interdependence, and financial data should be housedseparately.Ethical Use and Protection of Customer DataJust as company data is important, the concern and protection of the integrity of customer data is imperative. Examples of State Farm customer data include c ustomer name, Social Security number, insurance-policy identification number, mailing address, vehicle identification number, and credit-card information. As has been demonstrated with well-publicized data breaches in the past, there is a causal relationship between identity theft and dilatory security processes. Thus, State Farm should not take a languid attitude toward customer security.The generalizations from the customer profile are grouped in two1. Demographics name, address, Social Security number, and license-plate information 2. Financial data credit-card name and number, banking information, invoices, receipts, and tax documentsEach categorization is housed on separate onsite servers, but the categories are connected by a basal key, that is, a record in each group that connects in order to create a release customer profile. The primary key is namethe name field in the demographic group abstraction and credit-card-name field in the financial-data group abstraction. (This primary key is necessary in order for each representative to access a despatch customer profile upon processing a customer request during a call.)In preparation for a natural disaster, this data must be stored offsite on discrete servers but still connected by a primary key. These servers must also be in some other country, though they both can be offsite in the same country. When a natural disaster causes the Canadian call center to shutter temporarily, American call centers will still have access to complete customer profiles to add insurance riders or to make payments, since they will not have been affected by the natural disaster.It should also be clearly noted that this data must be stored, whether onsite or off, using the highest encryption, which is presently 256 bit. This encryption level is especially imperative for offsite storage. It mitigates against unauthorized access or breach of this customer data, which would surely lead to expensive and unnecessary lawsuits.Comm unication PlanA communication plan is a strategy, everydayly a project-management function, that details the process of effective communication during exigent situations, such as when a call center is damaged due to a natural disaster and is unable to function normally. To countermand chaotic discourse or managers leading at cross purposes, the communication plan offers structure and, thus, efficiency. Ultimately, it is a planning document. (Please note that the goal is always to ensure the customers needs are met this can only happen when the company proceeds in a structured, well-planned fashion.)An effective communication plan has the pursuit attributes* Objectives* Stakeholder identification* Communication strategyObjectives are set forth in a scope statement. A scope statement is a sentence or series of sentences that define the parameters of the communication plan, that is, what the plan will manage, and what is out of its purview. Setting these boundaries is necessary in o rder to promote efficiency and structure.The objective of the State Farm Canadian call-center communication plan is to keep all shareholders updated on the drive to normative call-center functioning for the Canadian location.Stakeholder identification is also important, since doing so identifies the key individuals who will benefit from the communication plan. This is alsoreferred to as a stakeholder analysis. The reason to know the beneficiaries of the plan is so the plan can be crafted to meet their needs.State Farms communication plan for a natural-disaster event identifies external customers, shareholders, management, and even line-level employees as stakeholders. Each of these entities will gain a benefit from the successful execution of the plan.Communication strategy sets forth the details of how communication is to occur. For example, when the network fails due to damage from a natural disaster, the communication plan will explicitly set apart the entities responsible for c ommunicating and receiving the communication of this event.The communication strategy can be reduced to several components. First, a routine communication strategy must be set. This strategy identifies quotidian communication behaviors, for example, meetings that are held, issues that are identified, and the communication of status updates.Second, financial communication should be set. This aspect is important to internal stakeholders, since recovery from a natural disaster places a burden on limited company finances and, as a result, on their ability to earn profit. Questions that this portion of the communication plan addresses are1. Is the cost of transferring calls to different American call centers aligned with expectations?2. What are the current costs for repairing the Canadian call center?3. What is the downtime cost for all(prenominal) day that the Canadian call center cannot take a call?This is not an all-inclusive list of queries.Third, this communication plan should pro vide updates on risks and issues that are identified during recovery from the natural disaster. This portion of the communication plan is dependent on prior risk registers and reports that were generated. When supernumerary risks are identified or if additionalissues are noted, this portion of the plan identifies the entity that should be notified and updated. Two risks associated are delays in re-building permits and follow-up natural disasters that bollocks up rebuilding progress.Post-Incident ContinuityThe goal of this BCP is to ensure that the call center returns to the level of function prior to the natural disaster. To ensure continuity of the business after the natural disaster, the following must take place1. quislingism with external entities to resolve any communication-line issues2. Restoration of any communication lines managed by the call center 3. possible repurchasing of office equipment, inclusive of computers4. Reinstatement of laid-off employees5. Rehousing of company data onsite6. Rehousing of customer data onsite7. Rehousing of financial data onsite8. Redirection of routed calls back to the Canadian call centerDepending on the severity level of the natural disaster, adjustments will have to be made to the Canadian call centers service-level agreements. The average-speed-of-answer requirement is 95 percent, that is, 95 percent of all incoming calls must be answered within 30 seconds. This level would have to be upwardly familiarized to allot time for call-center homeostasis. Also, depending on the call centers downtime, there may be an apologize time period in which there are no statistics to generate. Such a scenario would have an overall negative influence on the achievement of yearly service-level agreements.It may also be conceivable to start to reroute calls back to the Canadian call center in a gradated fashion. For example, if the call center returns to mostly normal functioning in August, it may be helpful to route only 20 perc ent of normally handled calls back. Doing so allows the target call center to adjust sufficiently to avoid short-circuiting processes designedfor refurbishment that are already underway. With each successive month, rerouting can increase by 20 percent. Within five months, the call center would handle all the calls it originally handled, and it would do so within the service-level agreement.State Farm previously developed a risk register and attendant risk report to account for such natural disasters. After normative functions have been restored, call-center management, along with any other entities involved in the execution of the proceeds project, should hold a lessons-learned session. The purpose of this session is to determine which executions of the restoration project, based on the risks identified before the natural disaster, were successful and which were areas of opportunities. This is a continuous-improvement aim. Adjustments may have to be made to various aspect of the restoration project to better respond to future natural disasters affecting the Canadian call center.