Disaster Recovery Journal

The Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a horrible natural disaster that the area might never recover from…  This much is known.  So many people have asked why we haven’t written anything on our blog about it and why we aren’t using it when it comes to business interruption scenarios.  The answer is simple, it is such a massive incident that most people can’t wrap their heads around it and would simply say “we aren’t a petroleum company, so it doesn’t apply”.  While that is true, I was reading an article today on the fact that BP share prices have dropped for the second day in a row.  Half way down this article, there is a perfect Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery piece that ties back to handling the media that has been written about here and here.  Read the following and see how it all ties together:

On the corporate front, BP shareholders would prefer to sacrifice the company’s Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg rather than CEO Hayward over the ongoing crisis, the Times of London reported in its Wednesday edition.

It has taken some time and a few more meetings than you’d like to remember, but you’ve done it. You’ve secured the budget needed to actually get your company set up with a proven Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan. But now what? You’ve promised the “powers that be” that you can deliver a DR implementation quickly, easily and seamlessly. And you cannot go over budget.

Well, take a look at your existing corporate infrastructure. What software tools are you currently using? How skilled are team members at learning a new piece of software? And don’t forget the deal-maker – “must be simple and on budget”. Chances are if you’re like many of the companies we do business with, you’re running a large chunk of Microsoft software. In fact pretty strong chance that you’re already using Microsoft SharePoint to collaboratively manage task and information within your organization.

Ogdensburg, NY – March 25, 2010 – KingsBridge Disaster Recovery is pleased to announce the latest release of Phoenix recovery planning software. Phoenix Foundation combines the KingsBridge expertise in DRP/BCP plans with the power and flexibility of Microsoft SharePoint.

Phoenix Foundation debuted earlier this week at Disaster Recovery Journal SpringWorld in Orlando, Florida. This new software release for 2010 from KingsBridge is available in two versions: the Phoenix Foundation WSS version and the Phoenix Foundation Moss version.

I always find it inspiring to see a long line of cyclist rolling along like an outstretched human train, everyone is wearing matching jersey and shorts working together to a common goal. If you’ve ever watched the Tour de France then you will certainly understand this amazing group of people working towards a sight. This is a sight that has become common at KingsBridge, minus the Tour de France part of course!  Everyone working towards a common goal.

Before joining KingsBridge I often dealt with Skip Williams (CEO) as he frequently visited the bicycle store that I managed during my university days, as it was just around the corner from their office. He would often drop in mid-ride in full KingsBridge cycling gear, matching head to toe.  I found it very interesting that a Disaster Recovery software and consulting company would have such a passion in cycling.  One day Skip dropped by the shop and gave me a KingsBridge cycling jersey, unknown to me, the first of many to come.  It was my first step into the KingsBridge train.

The current weather that has gripped Washington and most of the North East is a perfect example of what we try to impart to our clients.  It doesn’t take a major event such as hurricane, flood, earthquake, etc. to cause a significant impact to your bottom line.  Let’s take a quick look.

We are constantly asked about the Return on Investment (ROI) of Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR).  Unfortunately, it is very much like insurance (car, life, house, etc.) it doesn’t do you any good until you need it!  For the most part BC/DR are money losers, in other words you aren’t making money from doing Recovery Planning.  But, those days when you need some guidance or what to do in the event of “Snowmageddon” (for example), it will save you tons of money.

In our last post about the media being mean, I talked about the media making up news about Tiger Woods when he crashed his truck and hasn’t spoken to the media.  Well, here is the next installment (sorry, it’s Toyota’s turn, enough on Tiger).

A few weeks ago there was a report that Toyota was going to recall a bunch of their cars due to a sticking gas pedal.  At the time there were no accidents (at least not enough to make the news) attributed to the sticking gas pedal, nobody had been hurt and there was no cause for alarm (other than it was impacting 2.3 million cars).  To date, there still aren’t any injuries resulting from the recall/faulty part, but the media storm that has resulted had caused the value of Toyota to drop and is calling into question the “safetyness” of the entire brand!  All of this came around before the CEO of Toyota stepped forward, expressed his heart felt regret for the gas pedal recall.  Since the apology was issued, the value of Toyota has gone back up and everything seems to have settled into a regular recall of car parts.

During our Disaster Recovery classes, we always tell the clients that the media, with the unlimited airtime to fill, will create the news if you don’t give it to them.  So, for all our clients, we work with them to build a set of press releases and strongly encourage their management to go to media training to learn the basics of dealing with the media.  If you are in a highly visible position, even having a media firm do your press releases and media relations is absolutely critical.

If you don’t believe me, look at one very costly example going on right now…  Can you guess it?  In two words “Tiger Woods transgressions”.  Ok… you got me… that’s three words, but anytime anyone says “Tiger” I always think of Woods first and the animal second.