| DISASTER
RECOVERY
JOURNAL
P. O. Box 510110
St. Louis, MO 63151
(314) 894-0276
Fax: (314) 894-7474
Internet
www.drj.com
E-mail drj@drj.com
EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER
Richard L. Arnold, CBCP
richard@drj.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Jon Seals
jon@drj.com
SENIOR
EDITOR
Janette Ballman
janette@drj.com
ASSOCIATE
EDITOR
Ed Pearce, CBCP
ed@drj.com
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Pamela Clifton
pamelaclifton@hotmail.com
COPY
EDITORS
Jim Hammill, CBCP
Richard Sandhofer
richards@drj.com
ADVERTISING
Robert Arnold
bob@drj.com
_____________
Corporate
President/CEO
Richard L. Arnold, CBCP
richard@drj.com
Vice
President
Robert Arnold
bob@drj.com
CONFERENCE COORDINATOR
Patti Fitzgerald, CBCP
patti@drj.com
CONFERENCE REGISTRAR
Merce Knese
mercedes@drj.com
CIRCULATION
Laura Baugh
laurab@drj.com
EXECUTIVE
COUNCIL
Mike Croy, Forsythe
Jeff Dato, MBCP, KPMG
John Jackson, IBM
Edward S. Devlin, E.S. Devlin & Associates
James Hammill, CBCP, JMH Consulting Inc.
Pat McAnally, SunGard Availability Services
Brian Turley, Strohl Systems
Belinda Wilson, Hewlett-Packard
INTERNATIONAL
CONTACTS
England: Thom Hetherington
Business Continuity
Phone: 0161-237-1007
thomh@tempus.demon.co.uk
Japan: Shinji Hosotsubo
Crisis Management and Preparedness Organization
Phone: 03-3519-6270
fax: 03-3519-6255
hosotsubo@cmpo.org
Brazil: José Carlos Ferreira
Disaster Recovery Mercosul
Phone and fax: 011-3666-9506
jocaff@uol.com.br
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Click
Here for a Printable Version
Partnerships
Help Ease Tough Times
By JIM WILLIS
Insurance companies spend an increasing amount of time helping companies
reduce potential business interruption. The reason: it’s a win-win
strategy for all parties involved. At least 50 percent of the money
commercial insurance companies take in from business interruption claims
is actually paid back out to clients. The faster you mitigate a loss,
the faster the insurance file is closed. This translates into reduced
costs for the insurer and the insured, and reduced company “downtime.”
There’s no time to get your ducks in a row once the disaster has
already wreaked havoc on your business. While business continuity planning
is a top corporate priority today, many disaster recovery planners fail
to realize the ideal plan calls for more than just IT/data backup. Without
a plan in place to restore the actual facility/office, business may
not be able to continue.
Effective business continuity plans reflect collaborative partnerships
between a company and each of its vendors involved in the “supply
chain” of the recovery process. Here are a few tips for proactive
business continuity planning.
On the pre-loss side:
1) Determine critical areas. What needs to be restored or back in business
first?
2) Facilitate a facility walk-through with each vendor and, if possible,
the potential adjuster.
3) Understand the business interruption exposure. What is the cost of
downtime?
4) Consider how your company will be impacted if a company in your network
supply chain goes out of business.
5) Establish pricing structure and rates up front.
On the post-loss side:
6) Set reserves and expectations for the insurance company.
7) Schedule regular meetings to reconfirm priorities and answer questions.
Establish familiarity with each vendor’s capabilities and personalities.
8) Communicate ... communicate ... communicate.
Jim Willis is the director of commercial restoration for ServiceMaster
Clean. He has 25 years in the industry.
©Copyright
2004 Systems Support Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole
or in part in any form or medium without the express written permission
of System Support Inc. is prohibited.
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